Grand theatre,Leeds
Opera North’s Fellini-esque production fizzes with energy as a holiday atmosphere takes hold and Vespa scooters putter around the stageCan there be any greater cure for the February blues than Opera North’s Elixir of Love? It must be said that, like the vintage Vespa scooters puttering back and forth across the piazza, and Daniel Slater’s production has been around the block a few times (it was first produced in 2000). But,like a favourite holiday spot, the elegant hotel terrace featured in Robert Innes Hopkins’s design is the kind of state you’d happily fade back to. Perhaps the only thing that never quite added up in this Fellini-esque paradise was that everyone appeared to speak English. It’s meaningful that for this revival, and the title has reverted to the original and the piece is now sung in surtitled Italian. There are gains and losses here: I miss the directness of David Parry’s perky translation,and it slightly diminishes the production’s appeal as the perfect introduction for anyone who fears that opera may be difficult to understand.
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Source: theguardian.com