Barn Opera’s ‘Don Pasquale’ a sheer delight

https://www.rutlandherald.com/features/vermont_arts/opera-review-barn-opera-s-don-pasquale-a-sheer-delight/article_9a81a17e-a46b-59a8-99b4-e891b4496b5e.html

February 14, 2022 - Rutland Herald

I feel guilty telling you this. Barn Opera’s production of Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” was absolutely delightful. It was beautifully sung, imaginatively staged and ridiculously funny — and it was in a barn (sort of).

But now you can’t see it.

Saturday was the last performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s 1843 comic opera, or opera buffa, at the Barn Opera House in Brandon. The Barn Opera production functioned on two levels. On one, it was about as ridiculous a farce as any in opera, and on the other, its music was beautifully lyrical bel canto opera. What separated this production from many is that the farce almost never overpowered the beauty of the music.

Joshua Collier, Barn Opera’s founder and artistic director, set the action in a hole-in-the-wall pizzeria in New York City, requiring virtually no changes in the script from the original. The elderly Don Pasquale, the rich owner of the pizza joint, has disinherited his nephew Ernesto because he refused to marry the woman chosen for him — he’s is in love with Norina. So Pasquale decides to marry to produce his own heir. Pasquale turns to his friend Dr. Malatesta for advice, and he offers his demure sister Sofronia — Norina in disguise — and Pasquale is delighted. When Ernesto discovers that Norina and Pasquale are married — not realizing the wedding is a sham — he prepares to run away. And Pasquale enters the marriage from Hell.

The story is clearly ridiculous, but the singing Saturday was anything but. As Pasquale, Nicholas Tocci, Barn Opera’s associate director, employed his rich flexible bass-baritone beautifully and seemingly without effort. And he delivered the buffoonery just enough to be both funny and, in the end, sympathetic.

Soprano Maria Brea, with a voice that mixes brilliance and richness, sang Norina. Unusually, she was able to infuse her voice — and her eyes — with Norina’s wry wit. Light-voiced tenor Christopher Plaas was a perfect Ernesto, his expressiveness becoming heartrending.

Baritone Bernardo Medeiros, another rich voice, was masterful as Dr. Malatesta, mixing gravitas with wit. Val Giesy was a riot as the blindsided notary.

Collier’s direction kept the action moving right along, but always pausing for the beauty. His only misstep was injecting some humor into the dance between Norina Ernesto, taking away from the tenderness of the moment. More importantly, he kept the farce under control so it remained funny while the beauty prevailed.

That came from the sensitive conducting of Cailin Marcel Manson who also kept the production musically irresistible. The orchestra was the able pianist Felix Jarrar, who delivered Donizetti’s brilliant colors on Barn Opera’s Steinway D (9-foot concert grand).

Now, for the barn. Barn Opera has converted a small barn into a 104-seat opera house. The very comfortable seats, split by the entryway, bank down to the stage, a bare but polished floor with a projection screen for supertitles and atmospheric slides on the back wall. The entrance to the opera house boasts a ticket desk, a bar and a small lounge with couches around a fireplace and, of course, rest rooms. And the opera house remained warm throughout.

For those unlucky ones who missed “Don Pasquale,” another opportunity to enjoy Barn Opera is coming up this spring. “The Soprano Lives!” will feature the double bill of Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” May 13 and 14.