Gaetano Donizetti's
The Elixir of Love

Feb. 15, 16, 22 & 23, 2008 at 8pm
Feb. 17 & 24, 2008 at 2pm

Directed by Debbie Niezgoda
Music Directed by Joseph Sorge

Cast

Adina - Denise Young
Nemorino - John Day ( Feb 16, 22, 23), G. Stephen Stokes (Feb. 15,17, 24)
Sgt. Belcore - Doug Benton (Feb. 15, 22, 24), Tad Czyzewski (Feb. 16, 17, 23)
Doctor Dulcamara - Blair Eig (Feb. 15, 22, 24), Rob Ritter (Feb. 16, 17. 23)
Giannetta - Patricia Portillo
Gaetano, on stage trumpeter -  Paul Weiss

Ensemble - Grace Brigham, Katie Caughlan, George Cooper, Alex Desjardins, Susannah Eig, Gaye Freese, Noah Friedlander, Gayle Gillespie, Tara Hockensmith, Rand Huntzinger, Ralph Johnson, Stephen Kent, Carlton Maryott, Jane Maryott, Don Mitchell, Sherry Mitchell, Debbie Peetz, Carla Rountree, Pamela Sears-Rogan, Madeleine Smith, Rusty Suter, John Turner

Orchestra

Violin 1 - Steve Natrella (CM), Bonnie Barrows, David Friedlander, Carolyn Larson
Violin 2 -Martin Brown, Peter Mignerey, Edwin Schneider
Viola - Amanda Laudwein, Victor Ontiveros
Cello - Michael Stein, Andrew Schneider, Laurie Brown
Bass - Pete Gallanis
Flute - Jackie Miller, Louise Hill
Oboe - Gwen Earle, Mary Haaser
Clarinet - Laura Langbein, Laura Bornhoeft, Jim Bensinger
Bassoon -  Richard Sargeant
Horn - James Kocsis, Kathleen Bartolomeo
Trumpet - Curt Anstine, Bernie Rappaport
Trombone - Steve Ward, Al Potter, Frank Eliot
Percussion - George Huttlin, Jim Henriksen
Keyboard - Jenny Craley Bland

Production Staff

Producer - Denise Young
Assistant Music Director - Jenny Craley Bland
Choreographer - Kelly Williams
Stage Manager - Felicity Ann Brown
Assistant Stage Manager - Tony Dwyer
Lighting Designer - Joe Palamara
Set - Opera Bel Cantanti
Costumes - Denise Young, Andrea Schewe, Gaye Freese
Master Carpenters - William Kolodrubetz, Ed Byrdy
Addl. Set Construction - William Kolodrubetz, Tony Dywer, Ed Byrdy, Rebecca Graber, Lisa Freese, Pete Oliver-Krueger
Rehearsal Pianist - Jenifer Craley Bland
Program - Denise Young
Graphic Design - John Boulanger, Patricia Portillo
Publicity - Sandy Rovner
Properties - Debbie Niezgoda, Carl & Jane Maryott
Educational Outreach programs - Debbie Niezgoda, Kiersten Whitehead
House Management - Merle Haber
Set Storage - Rockville Civic Center

Director's Note

Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore) premiered May 12, 1832 and is believed to have been composed in two weeks. It has remained a part of the standard operatic repertoire since that time. The sources of its enduring popularity are the scintillating melodies and piquant characters. It successfully combines comedy and sentimentality in a male Cinderella story. Nemorino is a lowborn young man who snares Adina, the village’s most eligible (not to mention wealthy) landowner, with the help of a little magic in the shape of beaujolais wine disguised as “an elixir of love.” We follow Nemorino’s journey from a shy and awkward nonentity to a man of means and the most eligible bachelor in town. Adina learns some important life lessons herself. She begins the opera as a paragon – she has beauty, brains and property and more flirtatious wiles than a battalion of ladies. Yet when faced with the prospect of settling down with Belcore, a man who equals her in amorous wiles, she realizes she will lose the veneration of her most ardent devotee. She chooses true love, in the form of Nemorino, over the handsome, flashy, and fickle Belcore. Nemorino’s genuinely loving heart wins all in the end.

So, why would a company dedicated to the operettas of Mssrs. Gilbert and Sullivan choose such a warhorse of the operatic repertoire? The links between Donizetti’s opera and Gilbert and Sullivan are plentiful. Gilbert was fascinated by the opera, and used it as the basis for a short story called An Elixir of Love and for a play entitled Dulcamara. Gilbert & Sullivan paid homage to Elixir in The Sorcerer. The similarities in the plot lines of the opera and the operetta are numerous, and readily admitted to by both Gilbert and Sullivan. Of additional interest, our translation was penned by Sullivan’s biographer Arthur Jacobs!

Una furtive lagrima, the most famous aria from The Elixir of Love has been recorded and re-recorded by tenors since recordings of operas began. We have chosen to have Stephen Stokes and John Day, our Nemorinos, sing the aria in Italian. This was done for two reasons. The first was to give our audience a taste of the true flavor of Italian bel canto opera. Bel canto literally translates as “beautiful singing,” and Una furtive lagrima is an superb example of the genre. Secondly, the aria seemed to lose some of its magic in translation. The melding of the lyric and music is so exquisite in the Italian that the English felt lacking. We hope you enjoy this gem of an Italian bel canto aria.

Synopsis

Setting: An Italian village in the 1800’s.
Act I
Nemorino and the other farm workers listen as Adina tells the story of Tristan and Isolde (and their love potion). Nemorino knows that it is impossible to be in-love with such a beautiful and smart woman. Sgt. Belcore arrives and is struck with Adina’s beauty, giving her a flower and proposing to her that they should marry at once. Nemorino tells Adina of his love for her, but she laughs and urges him to find someone else, claiming that she is too fickle. A quack doctor, Dulcamara, arrives and Nemorino (who remembers the Tristan and Isolde story from earlier) asks him if he happens to have any of Isolde’s love-potion. Dulcamara sells Nemorino a bottle of “love-potion,” (The Elixir of Love) which is actually just some cheap wine. Dulcamara claims that the Elixir will work within 24 hours. Nemorino drinks the bottle of Elixir, and now is quite confident (and quite tipsy). Nemorino sees Adina agree to marry Belcore within a week. Belcore receives orders that he is to leave in the morning, so Adina moves up the wedding, crushing Nemorino

Act II
With Nemorino not in attendance, the wedding is delayed. Nemorino, who is penniless, is desperate for more love potion. He enlists in the regiment and takes the money he earns from enlisting to purchase another bottle of potion. After drinking the second bottle of wine the village girls all begin to swarm around him. They have heard the news (which Nemorino has yet to hear) that his rich uncle has died, leaving him with a hefty inheritance. Nemorino assumes that the attention is due to his second bottle of Elixir. Dulcamara tells Adina about the love potion and even offers her some. She refuses, saying that she has no need for such a potion. She realizes that she has loved Nemorino all along. On his way to join the regiment, Nemorino spots a tear in Adina’s eye and knows that she loves him, too. Adina purchases Nemorino’s freedom from his army commission. The village celebrates the good fortunes of the "Elixir of Love" and Dulcamara sells his remaining wine to the villagers who are convinced that the love potion works.

Musical Selections

Act I

• After long and heavy labor (Chorus)
• How delightful, how enchanting (Nemorino & Chorus)
• Lovely was Queen Isolde (Adina, Nemorino, Chorus)
• To the one who shines in beauty (Belcore, Adina, Gianetta, Nemorino, Chorus)
• For example ask the breezes (Adina, Nemorino)
• What’s the meaning of that kind of fanfare (Chorus)
• Attention! You country folk (Dulcamara, Chorus)
• It was Tristan who employed it (Nemorino, Dulcamara)
• Magical potion! (Nemorino)
• Now who is that idiot? (Adina, Nemorino)
• A slow campaign is tiring (Belcore, Adina, Nemorino)
• One moment Sergeant (Gianetta, Belcore, Nemorino, Adina, Chorus)

Act II

• Sing up then! (Belcore, Dulcamara, Adina, Chorus)
• I always like a wedding (Dulcamara, Nemorino)
• Is that not like a woman? (Belcore, Nemorino)
• Is it possible? (Gianetta, Women)
• I’ve polished off two bottles now (Nemorino, Gianetta, Adina, Dulcamara, Women)
• Why should he seem so happy (Adina, Dulcamara)
• Una furtiva lagrima (A furtive tear) (Nemorino)
• Take it (Adina)
• If love will thus forsake me (Nemorino, Adina)
• Finale (Ensemble)