Donizetti
L’elisir d’amore – melodramma giocoso in two acts to a libretto by Felice Romani [sung in Italian with supertitles in English by Matt Cooksey and Spanish by Dreambay Enterprises]
Adina — Jasmine Habersham
Nemorino — Jonah Hoskins
Belcore— Ricardo José Rivera
Dulcamara – Peixin Chen
Giannetta — Mary Burke Barber
Dulcamara’s Assistants – Nicole Morgan & Otto Martinez [mute actors]
Florida Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Anthony Barrese
Matt Cooksey – Director
Constantinos Kritikos – Scenery Designer
Johan Engels — Costume Designer
Marcella Barbeau – Lighting Designer
Brittany Rappise– Wig and Make-up Designer
Felix Jarrar — Assistant Conductor
Jared Peroune – Chorus Master
Reviewed by: David M. Rice
Reviewed: 13 February, 2025
Venue: Au-Rene Theatre, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Florida Grand Opera continues its eighty-third season with a delightful production of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (billed by FGO in English translation as ‘The Elixir of Love’). An outstanding cast under Matt Cooksey’s direction brings out the opera’s comedic nuances as Nemorino’s courtship of Adina gradually progresses. Anthony Barrese leads an excellent orchestra and chorus in a lively rendition of Donizetti’s score. An attractive set (from New Orleans Opera), costumes (from Washington National Opera), and Marcella Barbeau’s lighting combine effectively depicting a rural Italian town square.
Jasmine Habersham and Jonah Hoskins are excellent as Adina and Nemorino. Beginning with his cavatina ‘Quanto e bella’, Hoskins makes Nemorino a lovable character, worthy of the audience’s sympathy when Adina is indifferent to his advances. On stage much of the time, he makes the most of his comedic opportunities, and his lovely tenor voice rings out ardently in a plaintive rendition of ‘Una furtiva lagrima’.
Habersham’s bel canto soprano voice is gorgeous in both legato and coloratura passages. Her cavatina, ‘Della crudele Isotta’, sets the plot in motion humorously with the story of Isolda’s love potion, but her characterization softens as Adina comes to realize that she and Nemorino share true affection and pleads with him (‘Prendi, per me sei libero’) to forego his army enlistment and remain with her in the village.
Ricardo José Rivera’s Belcore is obnoxiously self-assured – the opposite of Nemorino. His comedic sense is unerring, as when he presents flowers to Adina — which he compares to Paris’s awarding the golden apple to Aphrodite in his humorous cavatina, ‘Como Paride vezzoso’. His baritone voice also comes through strongly in his duet with Hoskins, ‘Venti scudi’, in which Belcore pays Nemorino a bounty for enlisting in the army.
Peixin Chen is an irresistible Dulcamara, winning over the villagers with his introductory buffo patter aria, ‘Udite, udite, o rustici’, touting his patent medicine. Mary Burke Barber is a charming Giannetta, spreading the news of Nemorino’s inheritance.