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FILM: The Met: Live in HD
L’Elisir d’Amour

DIANA CARROLL - Reviewer
INDAILY - 24.10.12

NEW York's famed Metropolitan Opera Company has selected 12 of this year's productions to be filmed for release in cinemas concurrently with the stage season. The first production is Gaetano Donizetti's romantic comedy L'Elisir d'Amour (The Elixir of Love), showing at Palace Nova from November 3-8.

This is the usual operatic fare of love lost and found. Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani are superb on stage as the on-again off-again lovers. Netrebko's effortless vocals are just magnificent. Ambrogio Maestri (perfect name for an opera star!) brings real warmth to the role of Dulcamara, the travelling salesman flogging off cheap Bordeaux as the love potion.

Donizetti apparently wrote this opera in just two weeks, but that doesn't seem surprising for a composer who wrote 77 operas and more than 650 other scores during his career. It was warmly received by audiences of the time, playing to 240 houses at the Paris Opera House alone. The heart-warming story is complemented by memorable arias and wonderful orchestral lines. It is the complete package.

The filming of the Met is a rather strange affair. The camera angles are sometimes too close for comfort. This isn't the view you get from the house, even in the most expensive seats and with your best opera glasses. The camera goes back-stage in the breaks, showing the set movements and chatting with the stars. These added features are interesting but rather spoil the magic of being at the Opera House. Call me a traditionalist!

These films offer audiences an opportunity to see productions from this world-leading company. This is an engaging interpretation of L'Elisir d'Amour and would be a perfect introduction to the operatic arts for anyone new to its charms. Highly recommended. And remember, it's more than three hours long, so take a picnic!

The New York Metropolitan Opera series is screening at Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas until May 13, 2013. Session times online.

ENDS.