It might not do everything that the quack doctor Dulcamara would put on the tin, but his love potion (aka Bordeaux ordinaire) certainly brings happiness all round.
Nemorino has always been hopelessly in love with Adina, who, tired of his overtures, threatens to marry the recruiting sergeant Belcore when he comes to their rural backwater. Nemorino, desperate to win her, overcomes his fears and joins the army for the signing-up fee he needs to buy the reputed magic medicine.
To everyone’s surprise, it seems to work, when the lad inherits a fortune, making him the village's most eligible bachelor. But what does it for Adina is not his riches, of which she is unaware, but her discovery that her swain has been willing to sacrifice his freedom to win her love.
Director and costume designer Laurent Pelly thankfully makes no attempt to mess with this slight, silly, romantic story, or to impose deeper messages about truth and lies, appearances and reality. It is all froth and bubbles, and the better for it.
American soprano Nadine Sierra is an absolute charmer as Adina, all teeth and legs, flighty and teasing as only a close friend from childhood might be, and with a voice to bewitch as if the rest of her were not enough. She looks literally gobsmacked when she realises that Nemorino’s passion is no mere affectation, and if ever high notes denoted joy, hers ring out in their long ecstatic duet "Prendi, per me sei libero".
Liparit Avetisyan’s Nemorino is a bit of a wet sop of a bumpkin, ready to die for her—or at least to throw himself under her bicycle—but it is honesty and devotion that eventually wins the girl over. They make a splendid interactive pair, and his slow, sensitive rendering of the opera’s big hit, "Una furtiva lagrima",beautifully expresses his dawning awareness of a love returned and the moment when this fairy-tale comedy is transformed into a more credible human drama.
Two other stars of the show are Bryn Terfel and Bryn Terfel’s van—a ramshackle old vehicle well beyond the appropriate MoT date (the van, not Bryn)—courtesy of set designer Chantal Thomas. When not playing the baddie, I always suspect the mischievous Welshman is having fun on stage, and here he relishes the chance to indulge himself just enough, eyes blinking as if counting out the lire from his credulous customers.
I was less convinced by Boris Pinkhasovich’s portrayal of Sgt Belcore as a rather absurd, pompous figure rather than as Nemorino’s arrogant rival, but he sings beautifully, with clear diction.
Of recent releases online or on disk, directors have set Donizetti’s comedy in the Wild West, at an airport, with puppets, in a modern apartment and among Regency beaus. The piece is quintessentially about a close, rural, unsophisticated Italian community, yet of these other recordings, only the 2009 Glyndebourne production respected that.
Both of these more traditional approaches are enjoyable, with strong performances and witty interpolations for the crowd scenes. Glyndebourne takes the piece a little more seriously, updating the setting to the fascist period, but for sheer good humour, this 2023 Royal Opera production is hard to beat.