Tenor Pene Pati (center) sings the role of Nemorino, a poor young waiter dumbstruck in love with Adina, in the often-bright and breezy staging of Donizetti’s “Elixir of Love,” through Dec. 9 at San Francisco Opera. (Photo by Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera)
Wholeheartedly welcome, Samoan tenor Pene Pati, in a voice by turns sharply earnest and meltingly lyrical, aced “Una furtiva lagrima” (A furtive tear) aria in Act 2 of the San Francisco Opera staging of Donizetti’s comic opera “The Elixir of Love.”
Familiar to Solano County opera fans who may have seen him at a “Three Tenors” recital several years ago at Vallejo’s Empress Theatre, he received a sustained and well-deserved ovation for his rendition, relatively rare these days at the War Memorial Opera House — even in a fall season notable for one hit production after another.
But just before he sang it, coming toward the end of an often-breezy-and-bright production directed by Daniel Slater, some sort of electrical glitch, a buzzing and rattle-like sound seeped out from somewhere, audio speakers perhaps. It caused conductor Ramon Tebar to halt the music and turn around on the podium, then cast his eyes upward to house sound technicians. The annoying sound eventually stopped and Pati launched into the two-hour comic opera’s memorable hit tune. The glitch was temporarily forgotten.
Singing the role of Nemorino, a poor young waiter, Pati also struck lyrical gold early in Act 1 on the cavatina “Quanto e bella, quanto e cara” (How beautiful she is, how dear she is) when he first spies Adina, the young, flirtatious hotel owner in designer Robert Innes Hopkins’ 1950s setting in a small, sun-soaked Italian village on the tourism map.
And so the vocal magic was in the auditorium’s air nearly immediately, buoyed by Tebar’s fervent reading of Donizetti’s 1832 score, the libretto by Felice Romani. The production of this bel canto, Romantic era opera — always an audience favorite the world over for music that matches a lighthearted, boy-eventually-gets-girl story — continues to Dec. 9.
Equally remarkable for her coloratura vocals, notable throughout the opera, Slovak soprano Slavka Zamecnikova, as the aloof Adina, impressed right away in the Act 1 duet with Pati, “Chiedi all’aura lusingghiera” (Ask the flattering aura why it flies without rest). As Adina, noting she’s fickle as the wind, she gets fed up with his sighing and longing and urges him to find another woman.
Moving right along, Italian baritone Renato Girolami, in the role of quack doctor Dulcamara, arrives via hot air balloon, just in time to convince Pati’s Nemorino that he has just the potion (it’s cheap red wind but Nemorino doesn’t know) to help him in his love pursuit. He guzzles the dubious elixir and gets tipsy.
But the womanizing Sgt. Belcore, portrayed by Serbian baritone David Bizic, singing robustly from beginning to end, swaggers onto the stage and (remember, it’s opera) proposes to Adina. She agrees to tie the knot, and, confused by Nemorino’s apparent indifference, decides to marry Belcore the next day, singing, in her light, bright and always-agile voice, “Esulti pur la barbara” (Rejoice cruel one, tomorrow my pain will end). Belcore makes sure the notary will be on hand to seal the deal, while Pati’s Nemorino tries to track down the charlatan Dulcamara, the seller of bogus medicines.
Act 2 begins with a stageful of wedding revelers, Zamecnikova and Girolami sing a popular Venetian song about a girl who chooses to marry a poor gondolier, and Nemorino needs liquid courage and chooses to enlist in the military to gain enough money to buy the questionable elixir. Then a village girl, soprano Arianna Rodriguez singing the role of Adina’s friend Gianetta, declares that Nemorino’s uncle has died and left him a bundle of money.
Zamecnikova’s Adina gradually realizes that Nemorino truly loves her and she, likewise, confesses her love for the poor waiter, singing “Quanto amore” (How much love you bring into my life), and buys back his enlistment. Nemorino notices the secret tear in his love’s eye and sings the showstopper (which he recorded, by the way, for his 2022 debut album for Warner Classics).
Meanwhile, in another comic turn in the story, Dulcamara points to Nemorino’s inherited wealth that his potion brings riches as well as love.
And thus the closure of the San Francisco company’s fall season began to end with a lighthearted and engaging production that followed four far more serious operas with cogent messages and themes.
Can the company’s pending 2024 summer season be even better?
IF YOU GO
San Francisco Opera
What: “The Elixir of Love”
When: Friday to Dec. 9
Where: War Memorial Opera House,
301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Tickets: $10 to $426,
$27.50 for Nov. 26 livestream
Telephone: (415) 864-3330
Online: www.sfopera.com
