Sunday 21 February 2010

Review of the Elixir of Love

My review of ENO's American Mid-West production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore is here, on Music and Vision. (Note the site is now a subscription one).
Miller and Bywater seem to have been so keen on ensuring the verity of their 1950s American vision that they succeeded in removing something of the charm of Donizetti's original.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:01 am

    well i found this an absolutely smashing opera and i cannot wait to attend again. yet it seems that my comments on another site were not apprecialted. therefore i thought i would leave a the readers with a little thought:
    how can one merely enjoy a performance when one very inconsiderate person feels the need to sing along behind you??? an

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  2. Anonymous9:08 am

    Oh how revolutionary this performance was to me personally. I found I was utterly moved to salty tears when the warbling commenced. The verbrato was absolutely out of this solar system. Alors, pour moi, this was for definite 5 golden stars. Truly special night. Shame about the ice cream. Slightly on the 'off' side as I experienced, well, a chew as i ate it which i believe to be somewhat UNUSUAL for cream of the ice.
    It's quite funny actually, the woman in front of me kept turning around to give me the 'stare of disappointment' and I was so shocked by the appearance of her visage that I was directly sick on her.
    What an embarrassing moment for me.
    But, on the overall, a splendid night. Thank you to all who made this night possible as with my one leg, it was a struggle to enter into the theatre and a ramp had to be allocated to the front entrance.
    As they say, 'Cheers!'

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  3. Anonymous9:18 am

    well... i can say that even after having several baths and a weekend at the spa, i can still well that ice cream sick stench. and how selfish it seemed to moi that the woman behind me should have a ramp installed just for her personl usage when she indeed had a wooden leg that she could have worn. however, putting these issues aside, i can positively say that this evening could have been amazing had it not been for someone i believe was called chotty, maybe fotty, or it could have been dotty however that is such a silyl name. a better name would have been snotty as she kept snorting the whole way through the opera. i believe i experienced the elixir of snot not love.

    Furthermore, i did not appreciate the constant bravottis and bravinos that were being called out behind me at the end. i do not believe they are gramatically correct, especially as my friend Mr Oxford created the Oxford Dictionary and after reading it a num ber of times, i have never come across these words in my life.

    Finally, i must say that this opera would have been 6 shiny sparkling golden stars has it not been for Dotty Chotty Fotty! good day

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  4. Anonymous9:29 am

    Oh, for the love of all that is holy and bright.
    I do not want to be naming names as such, but...
    a certain spankel was no angel either. It was night. The moon was shining forth. The play had briefly paused momentarily for what the young ones call, an interval. Spankel was sitting in front of me with an arm around her belonging to i believe this to be her husband. Her husband..for now. The ice cream man, named charmingly, Bob the Blob, was stnading innocently by a red velvet curtain. Spankel's hand reached out of the curtain to pinch his peachy bottom. he turned around hitting me as he went.
    I fell to the floor. Oh the pain. My fake leg flew onto the stage.
    Spankel's face appeared covered in ice cream. Bob was most bewildered as i lay on the floor my dress over my head.
    The elixir of snot is a JUVENILE comment to make one might say, as the 'lady' in front of my had a crisp packet which rustled throughout the first half and I apologise for slapping her but my ears are rather sensitive.
    I have a wooden ear too.

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  5. Anonymous9:40 am

    a wooden ear? gosh what has happened to you? and may i point out his figure was an apple body shape not a peach.

    and i can surely say that if i had not gone behind the curtain first it would've been a matter of milliseconds until dotty chotty fotty SNOTT\\y would've as they say "got in there". and prickleplum behaved disastrous. i reassure all of you who are reading this that bob did not hit SNOTTY but instead she merely pretended to fall to the floor so that darling bob could look into her eyes and they would fall in love. but this did not go to plan for her as bob was so flustered that he indeed fainted and fell over the grand circle balcony and crushed a little old granny in the stalls. I also believe that SNOTTY wooden leg hit the conductor and therefore the music in the second half of the opera was very out of time and the singers were not synchronised making it very hard to understand.

    Anyway, i must share the most hilarious moment of the opera though. It would have to be as SNOTTY prickleplum was leaving the opera and was going up the ramp, that it collapsed under her weight and she went rolling back down into Bob who had only just recovered from his fall. it seems that prickleplum enjoys harming others as she started cackling in her witchy laugh. and i believe that she has quite the opposite of sensitive ears, as her laugh deafened many surrounding her. no wonder she thinks her husband pretends to not hear a work she says, i think he is actually deaf.

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  6. Anonymous9:49 am

    I think it the definition of insolence to comment on the collapse of my ramp.





    And another point, I think we can all agree here that I had quite a difficult, shall we sa, evening. My leg flying straight onto the stage, striking down the main character causing him to lie unconscious. I had to pretend to be part of the production, and began to scream mercilessly attempting to appear as if I was a damsel in distress. I just so happened that at t hat already treacherous moment, the ramp fell from under my feet causing me to be trapped underneath thick metal until Bob came to my rescue. It certainly did not help, as I regained my vision, witnessing Spankel screeching with laughter as she painted my legs with ice cream. Cookie. Dough. Chip.

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  7. Anonymous9:58 am

    well it appears that we have different memories of the evening. and i must admit i was laughing, or should we say dying due to the hilariousness of the event. but i must point there was damsel in distress in the opera, and it appears that you were thinking of romeo and juliet of maybe even eastenders as you stoop that low. well i suggest you listen to HEARING DAMAGE! maybe it will help you.

    "and all day and night and everything he sees is just blue like him, inside and outside" that is what i call a TUNE! anyway back to elixir of SNOT... it could also be the elxir of madness as SNOTTY seemed to be rather mentally challenged to be polite.

    YOU DON'T KNOW HOW SICK YOU MAKE ME!!!!! yes in the words of slim shadey.

    the opera is not a place for you, expecially when you were munching your carrot sticks and cucumber beams so loudly. again DEAFENING! anyone would've thought your husband worked at veg delight. gosh!

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  8. Anonymous10:07 am

    Veg Delight is a thriving and stupendous business. The special ingredients to his recipes are love and tenderness.

    Oh how bloody hilarious that you think it is necessary to quote the Slim Shady. When you have absolutely no idea who he his. He could be the milkman, the postman, your husband, Bob the Blob etc.
    For the love of peace Spankel, I nearly died when you said to Bob, "Grab your coat, you've pulled." It was positively repugnant.
    The carrot sticks and cucumber beams were a token of the years Jim spent building his store. I offered you one, to which you spat in my houmous.
    Twerp.
    I hope that next time you attend the theatre, you are the one to be trapped under a metal barrier which a bruised hip bone and most importantly a bruised heart from the embarrassment of the night.
    When Jim turned to me and said, Dot, I have some awful news, "Flanagan the cat has died" you turned to the woman next to you and said, "Oh how hilarious, their cat died, I may just wet myself, oh wait, I just have."
    Mature. So, very mature.

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  9. Anonymous10:16 am

    may i point out i definitely did not wet myself. i as merely laughing at the name Flanaghan. what a silly name for a cat.

    oh i do enjoy pirates of the carribean but i did not see why you felt the need to wear a pirate hat inside the opera (that is opera not theatre) have you forgotten what you were reviewing.

    back to the elixir of snot. i rather enjoyed the libretto but i suppose the damsel in distress addition had to make the performance. i dont think even sarah could've reached those high screechy notes. indeed brava or as snotty says bravotti!!!

    a metal bar? oh gosh that must have been painful. HAHAHAHA! and a bruised heart oh gosh someone call the doctor is seems we have a condition of heart ache as snotty could not have bob the blob.

    that is all from moi unless you wish to comment again with an insulting comment, which you probably will prickleplum.

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  10. Opal Fruit12:21 pm

    I did not have this experience when I attended this play. I found the ice cream of an adequate standard. Sorry to hear about your leg though
    best wishes xx

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  11. Anonymous3:04 pm

    and who are you opal orange fruit? you have a strange manner and tone. I DON'T LIKE YOU SILLY BOY

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