Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 2 The Elixir of Love

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 34 Director’s note WHAT MAKES THE ELIXIR OF LOVE A GREAT OPERA? I’m not sure many opera comedies deserve the appellation “great,” but I think The Elixir of Love is a shining exception. Donizetti manages to tell a winning story with believable characters whom we can relate to and recognize. It’s grounded in a fundamental idea that everyone in the audience immediately “gets:” the shy boy who’s in love with the impossibly glamorous (and, he thinks, unobtainable) girl. Then, Donizetti develops that tale through music that zzes with energy, charm, and beauty. THIS PRODUCTION TAKES PLACE DURING THE ITALIAN LA DOLCE VITA PERIOD OF THE 1950S,AND ILLUMINATES A PERIOD OF GLAMOUR IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AUDIENCE MEMBERS TO GO ON A HOLIDAY! WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS SETTING TO TELL THE STORY OF THE ELIXIR OF LOVE ? Designer Robert Innes Hopkins and I knew we wanted to pull the story out of its nineteenth-century rustic roots and nd the perfect period in which to replant it. There is an innocence (at least in our minds) associated with the 1950s, which seems to provide the ideal setting for the naïveté of the story’s hero (and also perhaps the chorus). On top of that, the “Dolce Vita” period gave us the chance to put Adina, Giannetta, and some of the chorus ladies in rather fabulous dresses! The production rst opened in the middle of a Leeds winter (which is not as cold as Chicago, but horribly damp and miserable), so we thought we’d give the audience a brief summer escape. As the curtain rose on the premiere, I recall hearing an audible sigh of longing from the Yorkshire audience! Though Chicago viewers may be basking in the glow of a warm, early autumn, I still think that, like all of us, everyone will be eager to escape the horror of the last 18 months. Hopefully we can provide that! THE CHORUS PLAYS AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THIS PRODUCTION. COULD YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT HOW YOU UTILIZE THIS WONDERFUL ENSEMBLE? I’m very excited to be working with the Lyric Opera Chorus, of whom director and choreographer friends have told me so many wonderful things. I’m writing this a few days before rehearsals begin, so am hoping and expecting that the ensemble will relish the chance to inhabit the various characters we’ve created to populate the onstage village. Rather than turning them into a unit of, say, farmers, we’ve given them a variety of characters: tourists, hotel staff, locals, and naval of cers. There are some distinct personalities within those groupings (including some American tourists!). This will be the biggest chorus ever for this production, so I, Robert, and choreographer Tim Claydon will be meeting some of these villagers and visitors for the rst time! IT’S BEEN SAID THAT IT’S MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO PRODUCE COMEDY THAN DRAMA.WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HUMOR IN OPERA,AND HOW DOES DONIZETTI’S MUSIC SUPPORT HUMOR IN THIS STORY? So much of comedy is about nding the right rhythm, and that’s somehow easier in “straight” theater because the director and actors create their own pacing—as long as you have performers with the natural ability to time a gag. In opera, of course, that rhythm is largely set by the composer, and that person may have created a musical rhythm for a particular moment that now feels a little dated or cliché. With a good collaboration between the conductor and director, however—which Enrique Mazzola and I are looking forward to creating—many of those problems can be offset and the humor nuanced. Having done many opera comedies over the last twenty years in both translation and in the original language, I’m acutely aware of a very speci c issue with opera comedy: although great music can support humor, what we primarily nd funny is text. When the text is in a language the audience doesn’t speak, it is reliant on the supertitles. We must get that text absolutely right, and also trust that the supertitle operator will land the joke at the right moment! For this reason, it’s quite common to nd directors falling back on visual gags that aren’t dependent on these tricky matters, but something in me resists humor that can border dangerously on slapstick. There is a risk that “opera comedy” ends up being a kind of comedy you never see elsewhere, whereas I endeavor to base the choices that performers and I make on the greatest possible source of inspiration: real life. ALTHOUGH THE ELIXIR OF LOVE IS HILARIOUS AND CHARMING,THERE ARE ALSO MOMENTS OF VULNERABILITY AND SERIOUSNESS FOR THE CHARACTERS. HOW DO YOU STRIKE A BALANCE BETWEEN THE FUNNY AND MORE CONTEMPLATIVE MOMENTS? The wonderful thing is that, to a large extent, Donizetti has already done that for us—which goes back to why it’s such a great opera! The joyous wit of the second Adina/Nemorino duet is then painfully offset by his heart-wrenching plea, “Adina, credimi,” that soon follows. What I hope to achieve is to take the characters and their motivations seriously, with those intentions Daniel Slater answers questions about The Elixir of Love .