If ever a company needed a magical elixir, a panacea for all ills, it’s the English National Opera . Condemned to death by Arts Council cuts, then given a stay of execution in the form of a relocation to Manchester (plans will finally be announced next week), the company is currently fighting for survival. And boy is it fighting hard.
Hot on the heels of chilling Halloween treat The Turn of the Screw comes a joyful new Elixir of Love – opera’s ultimate rom-com. ENO’s previous Elixir was a Jonathan Miller fantasy of 1950s Americana: all Cadillacs, diners, poodle skirts and jelly rolls. Harry Fehr’s answer is much closer to home.
Donizetti’s “male Cinderella” Nemorino finds himself billeted to a grand country pile owned by his beloved Adina – hostess (c1940) to half the Women’s Land Army and Royal Air Force. He (bookish, tank-topped) pines for her, while Wing Commander Belcore sweeps in (bristling with moustache and medals) and tries to sweep her off her feet. Enter black marketeer and quack Dr Dulcamara with patent medicine he promises can turn the tables.
It’s Jack Absolute with tunes, and none the worse for it. The setting is an easy win, and framed by Fehr as a period sitcom (the drop-curtain becomes a giant television screen, the Overture theme-music to an elaborate animated title-sequence) it gets an extra twist of camp, helped along by a freely updated version of Amanda Holden’s English libretto. Nicky Shaw’s sets, ingeniously sharing elements w.
