Today I saw another Met opera at the Sheppard Grande: Donizetti's famous comic opera THE ELIXIR OF LOVE. (Moira saw it too, but at the Scotiabank, a cinema I can't stand: the lobby reminds me of a Hieronymus Bosch-style nightmare.) It's one of the operas I've done with the TOR chorus, so I know it fairly well.
It's the one about the bumpkin peasant Nemorino who's hopelessly in love with Adina, a shameless tease who treats him badly (sort of like Archie and Veronica). When the soldier Belcore courts Adina, Nemorino gets desperate and buys a love potion from travelling mountebank Dulcamara, which tastes suspiciously like cheap wine. But just when he drinks a second bottle, the local girls find out (before he does) that he's inherited a fortune, and give him the sort of attention that makes him think the elixir is working...
This was a zippy, well-directed production that didn't seem long. I liked details like the tall grass set decoration. My favorite aria is "Una Furtiva Lagrima," which I've started learning in my desultory singing lessons.
Coincidentally, in the evening I started looking at our zip.ca DVD with highlights from LIVE FROM THE MET. (I think I saw it years ago.)
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