What an enjoyable evening. There was nothing seen or done on the stage that didn’t contribute to the sparkle and fizz of Donizetti’s charming comedy. You can take “charming” as an adjective that could be used throughout this review. Despite the English title being used in publicity material, the opera was sung in Italian with sub-titles. And very colloquial titles at that which also added to the evening’s fun.

The opera was set in the early 1900s in rural Australia, and while I didn’t actually read anyone saying “Strewth”,  plenty was said that reinforced the setting. The witty sets were all constructed from corrugated iron look alike; sky, hills, barn, animals (including hens, sheep, horses, galahs and a dog). Various animal noises emerging between musical numbers added to the audience’s pleasure. Designer Michael Scott-Mitchell and lighting designer Nick Schlieper deserve plaudits. Gabriela Tylesova’s costumes looked perfectly at place in the rural community, with Dr Dulcamara’s purple suit and the soldiers’ scarlet lapels giving pops of colour to an otherwise fairly muted palette.

The programme listed both a director, Simon Phillips and a restage director, Matthew Barclay. The action flowed smoothly, with busy chorus work not obscuring in any way the principals. In ensembles those principals were physically separated, allowing the various lines to be clearly heard. It can be difficult to say if the director or the performer is responsible for business and characterisation but certainly all performers made their own impacts.

Pride of place must go to Pene Pati. It was my first time hearing him live, as opposed to on recordings made by the very successful Sol3 Mio, and I was very impressed. Considerable beauty of tone, flexibility in the florid parts, and a willingness to modulate his volume made him a delight to hear. “Una furtive lagrima” stood out as it should, with lovely decoration at the start of the second verse, and a ringing top note at the end, followed by a beautiful and controlled diminuendo. His characterisation of Nemorino was spot on as well. Naive, a bit of a booby, but not stupid. And particularly charming (sorry) as he realised that he was coming out on the winning side.

Amina Edris was a winning Adina. Not too pert, not too unpleasant, she used her warm lyric soprano to plausibly chart her changing emotions towards Nemorino. And her dealings with Morgan Pearse’s dashing Belcore were also plausible and very funny. Other adjectives could be used of Belcore like fatuous, overly self-confident and gormless. Think Hugh Laurie in Blackadder. Pearse’s warm and fluent baritone dispatched the often difficult music with ease. The fourth of the principal characters was Conal Coad as Dr Dulcamara. Perhaps we should include his hapless sidekick and splendid yellow van as part of the character. Coad’s vast stage experience showed and more than compensated for a voice that has become a bit unsteady.

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra played excellently. Donizetti doesn’t write conventionally virtuosic music, but often the thrum of the strings is accompanied by obbligato solo instruments, as with the bassoon , clarinet and flute in “Una furtive lagrima” and these were invariably well taken. Wyn Davies conducted with his usual rhythmic alertness and bounce, but also showed the ability to relax when the music and action required this. Fans of that lovely ballet La Fille mal gardée would have recognised music taken from this opera by the arrangers of the ballet score, and indeed tonight’s performance did dance along.

As ever, the Freemasons New Zealand Opera Chorus sang firmly and strongly while presenting individual characters. This was perhaps seen most clearly in the scene (set in a henhouse…) where the village women hear that Nemorino has inherited a fortune, demonstrating a range of very funny responses.

So a run of an opera to attend if at all possible. Everything is on stage for your enjoyment. And when you go you will see what I am confident to describe as the best sheep-shearing joke ever put on the opera stage.