SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD UK OPERA REVIEW

Donizetti, Don Pasquale: Soloists, chorus and orchestra of The Royal Opera. Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. 14.9.2010 (JPr)

ĺride Martínez (Norina) and  Paolo Gavanelli (Pasquale)
Picture © The Royal Opera / Catherine Ashmore

Having suggested that indulging in operatic updating was Jonathan Miller’s ‘reason to be’ in my review of Così fan tutte, I totally expected his staging of Don Pasquale to be in contemporary dress … or at the very least ‘contemporary’ to the time of the opera’s composition, as Donizetti controversially requested in 1843. Miller actually turns the clock back to early in the eighteenth century, something of a favourite period for him. He attempts – and largely succeeds – in turning a frothy, inconsequential comedy into a darker - yet still witty - Hogarthian-style satire.

The story is a timeless one of a crusty old bachelor, Don Pasquale, who wants to marry a young woman through vanity and the desire to disinherit his wastrel nephew, Ernesto, who is in love with a penniless widow, Norina. Matters develop in a familiar way through the combined machinations of a friend of Pasquale and Ernesto, Doctor Malatesta. Norina is disguised as a virginal convent girl, Sofronia, but as soon as the ring is on her finger, she becomes a shrewish harridan hell-bent on squandering all of Pasquale’s money. From the infamous slap onwards we begin to sympathise with Pasquale for often very personal reasons. He eventually discovers he has been duped and agrees to Ernesto’s marriage to Norina and reinstating the inheritance. Yes, his tormentors seem unrepentant at the end but the moral is that ‘there is no fool like an old fool’ or as sung in the opera … ‘a man who married in old age is off his head’. There is nothing here to be taken the slightest bit seriously.

This production was originally staged in Florence in 2001 and arrived at Covent Garden in 2004. At that time Jonathan Miller was moaning that his time had passed and critics seem to have slated both him and this Don Pasquale at the time. Thanks to this production and the equally cost-effective Così fan tutte being used by the Royal Opera whilst the main company are in Japan, Miller seems to be making something of a comeback with these ROH revivals and with recent successes for ENO, no doubt much to his detractors’ chagrin. I didn’t like Così myself but enjoyed this Don Pasquale immensely. I saw my first Don Pasquale 1983 with Geraint Evans singing the title role and perhaps because I have not seen very many performances of it since, I was able to enjoy this one more than most.

The production is quite a magical one with a single set designed by Isabella Bywater and inspired by an English doll’s house from the period when the opera was written. As the opera begins, the house advances towards the front of the stage and its huge doors open. Everything else then takes place on the three floors of the house or on a central set of staircases. The doors, door knobs, the beds, the kitchen chairs and equipment are just slightly oversized and sometimes the characters hint at Meissen figurines or toy soldiers. Since the set displays three floors, we are constantly privy to the disgruntled below-stairs world of eavesdropping, gossiping, tea drinking and knitting servants; we can see how Malatesta hatches his plot in Pasquale's study while Ernesto, who has already bedded Norina in his room in the attic, manoeuvres her round the house to keep her out of his uncle's way. Occasionally there is the problem of where to look because although the major confrontations can only take place in one room, Miller - in typical fashion - fills parts of the remaining space with these other vignettes which can be a bit distracting.

A visual quirk in all of Isabella Bywater’s lovingly created period detail is when there is a wonderful nod to our consumerist twenty-first century in Act III ; Norina's spending spree results in a number of boxes from today's leading fashion labels (Versace, Prada, Escada etc) cluttering the stage.

It can be argued - whether because of Miller or his associate revival director, Daniel Dooner or not – that the principals often rely a lot on the stock gestures of the buffo tradition … but isn’t that exactly the point of this opera and this staging? Norina/Sofronia reminded me of similar female characters, Olympia and Coppélia, both dolls who are manipulated to bring about a man’s downfall. Norina is sung by Covent Garden debutante, ĺride Martínez, and after a low-wattage start she exhibits a sparkling coloratura, with all the wit, sassiness and vulnerability this role requires. Many a married man in the audience would recognise the moment when Pasquale realises that he is facing a losing battle after Norina/Sofronia declares ‘I want is only something I’m allowed to say!’

Paolo Gavanelli’s Pasquale has an almost Falstaffian rotundness to him and his frequent homage to the portrait of his mother added to the depths of pity and pathos into which the joint librettists, Donizetti and Giovanni Ruffini, have his character descend. Former Jette Parker Young Artist, Jacques Imbrailo, sang Doctor Malatesta for the first time and was suitably conniving but hardly the figure of evil that his name implies. I found Gavanelli’s voice more profundo than buffo but together with Imbrailo there was plenty of authentic Italian vocal colour to be heard and their Act III patter duet was a vocal highlight of the evening.

An announcement after the interval craved our indulgence for Barry Banks as Ernesto because he was suffering from an ‘allergic reaction’ and I wondered whether he had got too close to the large Teddy Bear that he seemed inordinately fond of in Acts I and II. Readers will not be surprised to gather from this that his was a very camp performance in general, but the only hint that his neat bel canto tenor voice might have been in difficulty was a clipped top note at the end of his Act II lament. He returned in Act III and completed a very sincere performance.

The Notary was sung very effectively by Bryan Secombe looking like Bernard Bresslaw in any Regency or similar period Carry On film and the small chorus of 24 did well as the servants and merchants. The orchestra under Evelino Pidò made a very sluggish start and the account of the overture was poor. However, things picked up spiritedly from then on and the evening simply rushed by. Donizetti seems to have realised early on that his plot was a thin one and does not seem to have wasted a note.

Sadly the printed programme made no reference to the fact that Sir Charles Mackerras had been due to conduct this revival before his untimely death and surely these performances should have been dedicated to his memory? That would have been the least he deserved.

Jim Pritchard

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