L’elisir d’amore is a sunny opera, amusing and optimistic, with some beautiful tunes and a vivacious musical colouring throughout. It provides lots of opportunities for fun, and the cast of the Royal Opera’s highly enjoyable rendition of it took all of them. Diana Damrau was in high spirits, capering and indeed leaping about as she sang, without an ounce of difference to the quality of her singing, which was superb. Indeed this is the only word for all the singing – Donizetti is very singable, inviting the best from all five voices and the chorus – so the best was given, and received with great pleasure by the audience.
     The spirited performance on stage was buoyed and supported by the equally spirited performance underneath it, at the direction of Bruno Campanella. There are passages of surprisingly modern music in Donizetti’s score; Nemorino’s famous second act aria “una furtiva lagrima” is introduced by a passage that could be from a contemporary or at least a fairly recent quality musical, and the song itself would embellish any crooner’s collection. It, and Adina’s “chiedi all’aura” and the following duet are among the high musical points of the piece, and they are brilliantly rendered by both the singers.
     It is said, or once was so, that a good tenor voice is harder to come by than any other voice. That has changed. There are polished, flexible, strong tenor voices in good supply for these great roles, which makes them a delight.
     When one adds the voices and acting talents of Anthony Michaels-Moore as a strutting Belcore and Simone Alaimo as a wonderfully funny Dulcamara, the result is an experience of sheerest pleasure.
AC Grayling