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Omaggio a Fellini e a Cinecittà Milano
Teatro alla Scala
05/11/2024 - & May 17, 25*, 28, 31, June 4, 2024
Gaetano Donizetti: Don Pasquale
Ambrogio Maestri (Don Pasquale), Mattia Olivieri (Doctor Malatesta), Andrea Carroll (Norina), Lawrence Brownlee (Ernesto), Andrea Porta (A notary)
Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Alberto Malazzi (chorus master), Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Michele Gamba (conductor)
Davide Livermore (stage director, sets), Giò Forma (sets), Gianluca Falaschi (costumes), Nicolas Bovey (lighting), D‑Wok (videography)
(© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)
Having seen several previous productions by Davide Livermore, I was sure I would be witnessing an exciting production of Don Pasquale, as he’s one of Italy’s most talented directors without being an enfant terrible. Without resorting to excessive sexuality, psychological turmoil or the invention of new plots, he consistently delivers an intelligent, visually appealing and entertaining opera experience. This production of Don Pasquale continues his winning streak.
Astutely using the overture to explain the psychology of old bachelor Don Pasquale, we witness the wake of his domineering mother, whose portrait adorns the center of the elegant home’s living room. A number of middle‑aged widows and spinsters express overt yet insincere grief in the hope of catching the wealthy bachelor’s attention. Afterwards, a dosing Don Pasquale recollects parts of his childhood, adolescence and adulthood, where his attempts at flirting and dating were thwarted by his unpleasantly tyrannical mamma.
We are immediately immersed into the intrigue of the farce. Don Pasquale refuses his nephew Ernesto’s choice of bride, the penniless widow Norina. He threatens to expel and disinherit him and decides to find a young wife to sweeten his old days. Dr. Malatesta proposes to solve Ernesto’s problem through intrigue. He passes off Norina for his sister Sofronia, fresh from the convent, as a potential bride. Don Pasquale accepts, and a mock wedding is hastily orchestrated, with Malatesta’s nephew impersonating the notary. The naive ingénue is quickly transformed into a virago who drives the old man crazy and who extravagantly squanders his fortune. When a note is produced proposing a tryst with Sofronia in the garden at night, the furious Don Pasquale seeks Malatesta’s help to catch her in flagrante.
Director Livermore, a man of taste, sets the action in 1950s Rome, allowing a pretext to relive the elegance of the period and to pay homage to cinema icon Federico Fellini (1920‑1993). Norina oversees a women’s clothing store, “Norina Confezioni,” established 1843 (the year Don Pasquale was premiered). She has many customers among the actors and extras on the Cinecittà set, and she may even be an aspiring actress herself, such is her self-assuredness and panache. We get to know a lot about her in her opening aria, “So anch’io la virtù magica,” sung among extras dressed as Romans and Pharaohs at Cinecittà.
Norina’s role’s Fach is that of a soubrette, i.e. a light lyric soprano, and American soprano Andrea Carroll is well cast in the role. Her timbre is pleasant: feminine and fruity, as a young widow ought to be. Fortunately, she’s not the nasal plain‑voiced soubrette more commonly associated with Despina (Così fan tutte), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro) or Oscar (Un ballo in maschera). Moreover, she has great stage presence and doesn’t resort to excess, an easy trap in this role. As sometimes occurs with high voices, hers needs to warm up before it’s at its best. That was indeed the case in the opening part of the aria, where Carroll sounded dangerously shrill. After a few minutes, her voice settled, eventually soaring up to an appealing high soprano with a distinct timbre.
In Norina’s Act I duet with Malatesta “Pronta son; purch’io non manchi”, Norina presents the different types she could play as the fake bride by presenting a fashion show in her boutique, with models wearing the different dresses that go with the characterizations, each carrying an explanatory ribbon (“fiera”, “mesta”, “da piangere”, “da gridare”, “la semplicetta”). This was a lovely pretext to show exquisite dresses in the style of Dior, Chanel and Balenciaga.
Lawrence Brownlee was a great choice in the role of the amorous nephew, Ernesto. Once he’s expelled from home, he seeks refuge in Rome’s Stazione Termini among characters from various Fellini films: prostitutes, a louche young man on a vespa, unfaithful housewives, a confused elderly man and a vagabond clown playing the introductory trumpet solo in Ernesto’s desperate aria “Povero Ernesto...Cercherò lontana terra.” Needless to say, Brownlee interpreted the aria in his usual elegant style. His Act III charming serenade “Com’è gentil” was sung equally stylishly.
Though Dr. Malatesta sings the least memorable music among the four protagonists, Mattia Olivieri had possibly the best voice of all four. His voice is ideal for the role. It’s virile, warm and ductile, evocative of his youth (relative to Don Pasquale) and of his strong character, necessary to be the intrigue’s puppet master. A brilliant actor, he never exaggerates or tries to outshine his duet partners.
Ambrogio Maestri, in the title role, is the obvious star of the show. Much loved by La Scala’s public, he enjoys a natural comic verve which he sometimes overplays. Nonetheless, he’s a first‑rate actor, and his antics are never vulgar. My only reproach is the lack of pathos when Sofronia (aka Norina), his angelic bride turned virago, slaps him, in their Act III duet “Signorina, in tanta fretta, dove va vorrebbe dirmi?”
More scenes evocative of Fellini are seen throughout the performance, notably the rowdy Cinecittà friends of Norina invited to create havoc in Don Pasquale’s home. In another scene, Norina is in a convertible sports car reminiscent of La dolce vita (1960), lifted up by helicopter (as in the film). We enjoy a delightful tour of Rome from the air, with video projections of the Vatican, Castel Sant’Angelo, Piazza Venezia, the Campidoglio and the Coliseum.
Most impressive was the final scene in the garden, where Norina has her tryst, intended to break Don Pasquale. Seen in the background is a huge merry‑go‑round, which at denouement gets closer. The four protagonists sing the opera’s joyful finale “La morale in tutto questo” suspended on swings from the merry‑go‑round, save Don Pasquale, too fat to be lifted. As Norina and Ernesto embrace, the “ghost” of Don Pasquale’s dead mamma reappears to keep him company. It’s easy to fall back into old habits.
Ossama el Naggar
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