Fun, farcical and frolicsome – Donizetti’s sparkling comedy Don Pasquale is the next production in San Francisco Opera’s fall season line-up. Throw in a dash of Laurent Pelly’s clever and creative design, and some fabulous Bel Canto specialists, and you have all the elements for a delightful evening at the opera.
San Francisco Opera’s Don Pasquale – a co-production with Santa Fe Opera and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu – features bass–baritone Maurizio Muraro in the title role, tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Pasquale’s nephew Ernesto, soprano Heidi Stober as Norina, Ernesto’s love interest, and baritones Lucas Meachem and Edward Nelson, who share the role of Dr Malatesta. The San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Chorus (Director Ian Robertson) and cast are led by Guiseppe Finzi.
Gaetano Donezetti’s three-act comic opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Ruffini and Donizetti himself, premiered on January 3, 1843, at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. It was last produced by San Francisco Opera in 1984, and – despite its comedic theme – also has moments of poignancy. The story revolves around the miserly old bachelor, Don Pasquale, who has decided to marry, produce an heir, and thus prevent Ernesto from inheriting his wealth. Pasquale sets his sights on the young widow, Norina, but she’s Ernesto’s sweetheart, so Dr Malatesta – a friend of Pasquale and the young couple – devises a plan which involves Norina impersonating his sister, Sofronia, to trick the old man into a false marriage, hoping to save him from his own foolishness, and also to help Ernesto and Norina. Needless to say, the result is that Pasquale’s whole world – rather literally in this production – is turned upside down.
This is the third opera which Laurent Pelly has staged for San Francisco Opera. The French director and designer made his Company debut in 2009 with his staging of Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment – for which he’d received acclaim at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera – and in 2013 he returned to the War Memorial Opera House to direct Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman. His staging for Don Pasquale involves the use of a rotating stage, facilitating scene changes without the need for breaks. Pelly describes Don Pasquale as “a masterpiece of comedy and music together. It has as its ancestor the Italian commedia dell’arte, but in the settings and, above all, in the costumes, we refer to the golden age of Italian film comedies, that is to say, the films of the 1950s and early 1960s”. Opera News refers to Pelly’s production as “an absurdist feast”.
Italian bass-baritone Maurizio Muraro – who sang the role of Doctor Bartolo in San Francisco Opera’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia in 2013 – is known as a versatile performer, having made his name in both dramatic and comedy roles, but with a particular penchant for the latter. He has been described by New York Classical Review as “a quintessential buffo bass” and commended for the “veritable patter clinic” which he produces in the lively arias of Rossini and Donizetti’s 19th century comedies.
American soprano Heidi Stober sings the role of Norina – and Sofronia, the sharp-tongued harridan who torments Pasquale. Ms Stober is a popular figure at the War Memorial Opera House, having made her Company debut in 2010 as Sophie in Massenet’s Werther. Among her more recent roles are Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Magnolia Hawkes in Show Boat, Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, and Johanna in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. Opera News refers to Miss Stober as “the complete package: a winsome presence along with an instrument of stunning brilliance, proportion and beauty”.
Internationally renowned African-American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who makes his San Francisco Opera debut in the role of Ernesto, was widely acclaimed for his creation of the title role in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, Daniel Schnyder’s 2015 opera about the legendary jazz saxophonist. The Wall Street Journal wrote of him as “the splendid tenor Lawrence Brownlee” who “commands the stage, his pure, forthright tenor pulsating with the spirit of the man”.
Dr Malatesta, the chief conspirator, is sung in four performances by Lucas Meachem, a former Adler Fellow and Merola Opera Program alumnus, who delighted San Francisco audiences last year as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Other appearances for the Company include the title roles in both Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin, that of Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and roles in La Forza del Destino, Billy Budd, Doktor Faust, and The Magic Flute for Kids.
The two remaining performances are sung by current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow, Edward Nelson, who appears as Fleville in the Company’s season opener Andrea Chénier, in Dream of the Red Chamber, and who will be seen as Yamadori in Madame Butterfly.
Don Pasquale is sung in Italian with English supertitles and will run for six performances between September 28 and October 15. Further information on the production and tickets can be found on the San Francisco Opera website.