'Elixir of Love' puts audience under its spell
Riveting performances and sprightly music share a small stage with equanimity.
By MARTY CLEAR, Times Correspondent
Published December 30, 2007
The Palladium Theater, it's safe to say, isn't the ideal venue for opera. Because there's no pit, the performers and the set have to share the stage with the orchestra, so inevitably the sweep and sumptuousness that we'd like to see in classical opera is limited.
That makes it all the more impressive that the St. Petersburg Opera Company's current production of Gaetano Donizetti's The Elixir of Love (L'Elisir d'Amore) turns out to be such a rousing success.
Gorgeous voices, wonderful acting, and some really fine musicianship by the FloriMezzo Orchestra make the cramped quarters on stage a triviality. The orchestra is set up across the rear of the stage, plainly visible between set pieces on the left and right. But because the performers are so riveting, the orchestra behind then quickly becomes inconspicuous.
Of course, the engaging story - comic but truly romantic - and Donizetti's sprightly, almost catchy, music also help the production surmount its hurdles.
The plot concerns a simple young man named Nemorino whose love for the beautiful Adina is unrequited. A huckster sells him a potion that is supposed to make him irresistible to women. Nemorino spends all his money to buy the potion, and even enlists in the army to get money to buy more, so the potion will work more quickly.
Meanwhile, Nemorino's wealthy uncle has died, leaving him a fortune. The girls of the town hear the news before Nemorino and start pursuing him. Nemorino thinks the potion is working and is confident that Adina will soon come to him. She's infuriated by his sudden indifference toward her and soon realizes that she has feelings for him, too.
The lead performers - Kathy Pyeatt as Adina, Michael Wade Lee as Nemorino, Richard Cassell as the huckster and Wade Thomas Belcore, Nemorino's rival - all wield wondrous voices and handle demanding roles facilely.
Pyeatt has a luminous voice and presence. Thomas is delightful as the fatuous sergeant who awkwardly woos Adina. But Cassell has the most overtly entertaining role and makes the most of it with an animated performance to go with his pleasing bass-baritone.
Behind them, the FloriMezzo Orchestra, which combines professional and student musicians, played beautifully, with grace, power and delicacy, often all at the same time.
If you go
The Elixir of Love
Today at 2 p.m. at the Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg. $18.50-$70. The group also will do highlights from the opera at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Palladium. $15-$30. (727) 822-3590; mypalladium.org.