Elixir of Moody, Emo, Violent Love

L'Elisir d'Amore

September 27, 2012

Metropolitan Opera

The Met's new production of L'Elisir d'Amore has all the ingredients to be a big, if somewhat unambitious success. The sets by Michael Yeargan are postcard pretty and depict a rustic Italian farmland a lot better than the Met's old cotton-candy cutout production. I could quibble with the long scene changes, but I'm sure with time and maybe a few adjustments, the scene changes will become more seamless. The costumes by Catherine Zuber are handsome -- all the village girls looks darling, Belcore's army dapper. There is no major miscasting -- Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Ambroglio Maestri all sing their roles with a fair amount of vocal beauty and style. You could argue that Netrebko's voice has gotten too dark and heavy for the -ina and -etta roles, but it's still one of the most beautiful voices of the business and she has the right vivacious personality for Adina. Always a great pleasure to hear her big voice roll into the Met's huge auditorium so effortlessly. Just a huge wave of sound. Matthew Polenzani has a nice, pleasing lyric tenor voice and "Una furtiva lagrima" ended with a beautiful diminuendo.

You would think this would be a success, right? Wrong. The production as a whole does something I didn't think was possible -- it took all the joy, humor, and charm out of Donizetti's sweet romantic comedy. The direction by Bartlett Sher was  just so wrong on every level. It's not a "rethinking" of the opera. It's an absolutely wrong interpretation. It's akin to someone reading Othello and saying Shakespeare depicted a healthy, happy marriage and that Iago's a good guy.

The first mistake the director made was that he apparently ignored the basic characterization of Nemorino. Nemorino is a classic comic type -- a dimwitted sap. The libretto goes into some detail that he's illiterate. When he enlists in the army, he can't read the enlistment papers and has to sign his name with an "X." But he's a sweet, likable fellow, and it's become traditional for tenors to do their own unique schtick to show how sweet, likable, and goofy they are. In recent years, Rolando Villazon juggled, Roberto Alagna did handstands, and Juan Diego Florez in last year's superb revival broke out in a spasm of bad dancing.

Sher apparently missed the memo that Nemorino was supposed to be a likable goofball. He's first seen onstage scribbling in a notebook, all moody and emo, as if Werther accidentally walked into the wrong opera. He's aggressive -- he forcefully grabs Adina's hand and pushes her around the stage and at one point throws her onto the ground in a fit of rage. No shy puppy love here -- Nemorino has no problems digging his face into Adina's chest during one duet. Sher also missed the basic premise of the comedy, which is that the cheap wine Nemorino buys (the "elixir of love") gives him a confident swagger that actually does make him more attractive both to Adina and the other village girls. This Nemorino becomes outright creepy and violent after he drinks the elixir. He starts groping the other village girls, and then he swings a rifle around the stage. He's like that scary homeless guy people avoid at the bar. As if to outline this "rethinking" of the character as a moody and emo young man, Nemorino is decked out in a mullet wig, black leather jacket, and pounds of dark eye shadow.

This absolutely ruins the opera. There is no humor, no charm in seeing an unlikable, violent guy win the girl. Some of the best moments of the opera go for naught because of Sher's direction, starting with the opening aria "Quanta bella." In this aria Nemorino is admiring Adina as she reads a book about Tristan and Isolde and the love potion to the villagers. The point is that he admires Adina because she's everything he's not. Educated, good-looking, rich, smart, popular. This sets up the "conflict" of the opera -- will the popular but somewhat snooty Adina eventually fall for the lovable, dimwitted sap? All of this is gone with Sher's direction.

Some of the blame must go to Polenzani too -- this sounds kind of harsh but he's not naturally the most charismatic performer, and he seems to be compensating by projecting a sulky, angry persona. I only say this because I've seen him in three productions now where he's sort of done the same sulky, angry thing. I think a revival of this production with a more naturally sunny performer could mitigate some of the disastrous personregie direction. One can certainly hope.

Another one of the charms of the opera is that the "villains" Belcore and Dulcamara (seen above) are sort of lovable too. Sergeant Belcore in the libretto isn't a bad guy, just full of himself. Well in this production his army (apparently Austrians during the Risorgimento, according to the program notes) are violent and menacing invaders, and Belcore himself is a sinister, mean guy. Act One ends with him slapping Nemorino to the ground. It's a crying shame to make the dapper and charming Kwiecien such an unfunny jerk. Doctor Dulcamara in this production is really given nothing to do except sell his quack medicine. Maestri basically stood and sang.

Wow. It really was horrible.