Opera review: Don Pasquale at Royal Opera House

4 / 5 stars
Don Pasquale

GAETANO Donizetti was the most successful composer of comic operas in the first half of the 19th century and his final work, Don Pasquale, is genuinely funny.

Bryn Terfel and Olga Peretyatko

Bryn Terfel (Don Pasquale) and Olga Peretyatko (Norina) (Image: Clive Barda/ROH 2019)

The title character is an elderly Italian who is impatient with his wastrel nephew Ernesto, who lives with him, and even more intolerant of Norina, whom Ernesto wants to marry. Pasquale therefore plans to get married himself and disinherit Ernesto and throw him out. That plan reckons without the ingenious Dr Malatesta, who concocts a scheme to scupper Pasquale's intentions. Given the task of finding a beautiful and demure bride for the old man, Malatesta introduces him to Sofronia, who is supposedly his sister, fresh and innocent, having just completed her education in a convent.

Sofronia, however, is Norina in disguise, schooled by Malatesta to give an impression of shyness and virtuousness guaranteed to drive Pasquale wild with desire. The moment the fake marriage ceremony is concluded, Pasquale sees an instant personality change come over his bride who reorganises his life and spends his money at ever-increasing rate. Desperate to escape this marital mayhem, Pasquale agrees to allow Ernesto to marry Norina and let them both live with him, when he is sure Sofronia will move out. By the time he realises that Sofronia is Norina, he cannot get out of it and accepts the situation as worthwhile in order to have rid himself of the perils of a young and voracious wife.

The cast, led by the magnificent Bryn Terfel in the title role, all do their jobs wonderfully. Terfel himself acts and sings beautifully, while also giving us an unusually sympathetic portrayal of the abject misery of the post-marital misery of Pasquale. He shares the glory with Russian-German soprano Olga Peretyatko, who plays the part of Norina/Sofronia in glorious style. Quite apart from a splendidly clear and confident voice, she shows excellent comic timing and a wonderful range of expressions, ranging from shy convent girl to explosive harridan.

With Malatesta (Austrian baritone Markus Werba) and Ernesto (Romanian tenor Ioan Hotea) also playing their parts impressively in this small cast, it all added up to a fine performance of this opera.

Markus Werba (Malatesta) and a Pasquale puppet


Markus Werba (Malatesta) and a Pasquale puppet (Image: Clive Barda/ROH 2019
)

Norina (Peretyatko) and Ernesto (Ioan Hotea)

Norina (Peretyatko) and Ernesto (Ioan Hotea) (Image: Clive Barda/ROH 2019
)

Most innovative of all, however, were the innovations of Italian director Damiano Michieletto and set designer Paolo Fantin in this new production. This was in many ways a total contrast to the highly successful production by Jonathan Miller which it has replaced. While Miller had all the action taking place in the various rooms of an exquisite doll's house of a set, Fantin's minimalist set features the framework of a roof in strip lights above the stage, with several doors leading from room to room, but no walls. This looks weird at first but works well in speeding up both the action and the audience's reactions.

The opera itself also includes several sections where the music is accompanied by little action. Miller got round this by having various things always going on in the additional rooms of Pasquale's house, while Michieletto conjures up some gloriously funny tricks to keep the audience amused in the duller sections. His portrayal of Norina as a fashion photographer enables some highly effective use of camera close-ups, while the surprising introduction of puppet versions of the main characters adds great humour to a couple of the scenes.

I am always critical of directorial self-indulgence in introducing their own agenda to an opera, but Michieletto's innovations simply introduce pure fun when the opera needs it. It could be accused of going too far, but the audience seemed to love it and I certainly did.

Box Office: 020 7304 4000 or www.roh.org.uk (until November 2).

The performance of Don Pasquale on Thursday October 24 will be broadcast live to cinemas. For details, see www.roh.org.uk/cinemas

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