With its productions of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” and Bizet’s “Carmen,” Lyric Opera has a brace of crowd-pleasers with which to end its season at the Civic Opera House. The return of Donizetti’s opera buffa Thursday night brought an engaging new pair of principal singers, soprano Ruth Ann Swenson and tenor Vincenzo La Scola. Their superior performances went far toward freshening and brightening a production whose comic-romantic routines have lost luster during the 22 years it has held the boards at Lyric.
Elizabeth Futral and Frank Lopardo, who sang the roles of the capricious village girl Adina and her bumpkin suitor, Nemorino, in the first round of performances in January, were perfectly respectable. But I prefer Swenson and La Scola, by a wide margin in Swenson’s case. She sang like a dream on Thursday night, the tone full and creamy, the coloratura floating and precise, the shining high notes invested with what the Italians call punto, or cleanly pointed attack. Her aria, “Prendi, per me sei libero,” in which Adina confesses her love for Nemorino, was simply ravishing in its delicate pathos.
There was always a playful smile in this Adina’s voice, while Swenson’s naturally sunny disposition made her heroine always charming. This smart cookie was always one step ahead of Nemorino, more amused than scornful of his bumbling attempts to woo her. Swenson and La Scola proved a good fit vocally. Given the soprano’s successful track record at Lyric, it is unconscionable that she is nowhere to be found in the castings the company has announced through 2005. Swenson may prefer singing at the Met and in San Francisco, but the fact remains the Lyric could have had her if it tried hard enough.
La Scola, whom Lyric audiences will recall from his Rodolfo here in the 1997-98 “Boheme,” wields a lyric tenor, open and plaintive of sound, if not very individual in timbre. The showpiece aria “Una furtiva lagrima” may not have been as sweetly sung as Lopardo’s but it was stylish and affecting nonetheless. “Adina, credimi,” in which the hero pleads with Adina not to marry his pompous rival, Belcore, came off even better. This Nemorino was a dimly earnest peasant boy who really believed a few quaffs of the quack Dulcamara’s “elixir” would win him his sweetheart. His transformation from nebbishy underdog to romantic hero was fun because it was so unlikely. La Scola is scheduled to return to Lyric in 2002, as Turiddu in “Cavalleria Rusticana.”
Back again in the supporting cast were bass Paul Plishka’s lovable Dulcamara (somewhat heartier comedically than vocally), baritone Manuel Lanza’s amusing, elegantly sung Belcore and soprano Maria Kanyova’s bright and lively Giannetta. Vincent Liotta was the stage director, keeping the traffic moving in the well-worn Giulio Chazalettes-Ulisse Santicchi production. Conductor Yves Abel drew fizzy playing from the orchestra and enthusiastic singing from the chorus.
Remaining performances of “L’Elisir d’Amore” are Tuesday, Saturday, March 17 and 19. Although tickets are sold out, turnbacks may be available; phone 312-332-2244.
