Hampstead Garden Opera

The Elixir of Love (Donizetti) - November 2008

Donizetti’s endearing The Elixir of Love was our first venture into early 19th century Italian comedy.

There were eight performances, four for each cast, at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate Village, between November 6th and 16th 2008.

The Elixir of Love is a romantic comedy – a warm, human comedy about believable people in (just about) believable situations. Pathos and humour are evenly balanced – but love wins.

It was originally set in an Italian village in the 1830s; but the opera’s characters, their background and their story can fit comfortably into almost any society of any period. HGO’s village is Greenwich Village, New York, in 1944. An impoverished young street musician, Nemorino is hopelessly in love with a feisty, well-off young shopkeeper, Adina. In marches Petty-Officer Belcore with his US Navy mates, on leave from the Pacific front. He sweeps Adina off her feet. Only magic, it seems, in the shape of an elixir peddled by a specialist in alternative remedies, ‘Dr.’ Dulcamara, can give Nemorino the edge over his rival. But there are plenty of twists in the tale before the true lovers are united.

Roles Cast A
6, 8, 14, 16 November 2008		 Cast B
7, 9, 13, 15 November 2008
Adina, a well-off young shop-owner (soprano)
 Hannah Sawle Stefanie Kemball-Read
Nemorino, an impoverished street musician (tenor)
 Tom Cockett Robin Bailey (7, 9, 15 Nov.)
Tom Cockett (13 Nov.)
Chief Petty-Officer Belcore, US Navy (baritone)
 Sam Queen Thomas Kennedy
Dr Dulcamara, practitioner of alternative medicine (buffo bass)
 Antoine Salmon Philip Kay
Giannetta, Adina’s friend (soprano)
 Anna Whyte Becki Dale
Chorus:
Greenwich Villagers and US sailors on leave
 In alphabetical order:
Amaia Arregui (mezzo)
Helen Bailey (soprano)
Katy Butcher (soprano)
Kate Hobbins (soprano)
Ross Hobson (baritone)
Matthew Holt (baritone)
Liz Hunt (mezzo)
Paul Ives (baritone/lower tenor)
Martin Musgrave (baritone)
Jill Noakes (soprano)
Panos Ntourntoufis (tenor)
Nicola Ogborn (soprano)
Letitia Perry (soprano)
Jonathan Rosen (tenor)
Danny Smyth (bass)
Production Team:
Producer and director Bruno Ravella
Music director Oliver-John Ruthven
Assistant music director / Répétiteur Alastair Macgeorge
Répétiteur Suzy Ruffles
Choreography Sarah Fahie
Set and costume design Madeleine Millar
Lighting design Dan Harvey
Orchestra The Dionysus Ensemble
Elisir d'Amore

Watch the audience reactions...

Photographs by Laurent Compagnon - www.laurentcompagnon.com


"I've never been to a show by Hampstead Garden Opera, which is really quite a deal. Its amateur chorus - with an age-range spread probably across half a century - was oddly wonderful: impactful, strong, surprisingly well-disciplined. The 12-piece, young-professional orchestra was all those things and more, conducted with a brisk and competent alertness by the worryingly adolescent-looking Oliver-John Ruthven" – Michael White for Opera Now. Read the full review

"Sitting in Upstairs at the Gatehouse greatly enjoying Hampstead Garden Opera's latest production, of Gaetano Donizetti's Elixir of Love, I thought how lucky we are to have this excellently run venue on our doorstep, with such an inspiring company to fill it. During the interval another Highgate Society member voiced a similar thought. The gratified reactions of the rest of the audience suggested many minds were working alike." – Ed Gordon for Buzz, the Highgate Society magazine. Read the full review