Engaging, strong players keep ‘Don Pasquale’ lively

Those who think opera is too highbrow should see Hawaii Opera Theatre’s version of Donizetti’s "Don Pasquale." It’s a lighthearted caper that gets the audience laughing mid-overture and keeps them laughing through the final curtain.

"Don Pasquale" is, first and foremost, "opera buffa," a type of Italian comic opera with a long history, and director Brian Deedrick has returned it to its traditions while revealing its connections to later comic genres, including vaudeville, silent film, musicals and melodrama.

Opera buffa is not an insider’s genre: Although the more you know, the more amazing it is, no one has ever had to know anything about opera buffa to enjoy it. "Don Pasquale" is not about the characters, but what the author does with them; it’s not about musical innovation, but how the composer uses the conventions, and almost no one has wielded conventions as deftly as Donizetti. Even as audiences recognize patterns unchanged since Mozart, they will delight in their polish.

The story of "Don Pasquale" is as old as humans and as young as newborns, so there is no need to explain it or give away its gags. Suffice to say that there are four familiar main roles, more caricatures than characters, borrowed from the "commedia dell’ arte" tradition: the blustering, lecherous old man, Don Pasquale (a bass, of course, sung by Valerian Ruminski); the sweet young woman, too clever by half, Norina/Sofronia (the soprano, sung by Evelyn Pollock); the dashing young ladies’ man, Ernesto (the tenor, by George Dyer); and the clever schemer who stirs the pot, Dr. Malatesta, from "mal di testa," or headache (the baritone, Kelly Markgraf).

Designer Peter Dean Beck has brought back touches of period stagecraft, most notably the intentionally stagey painted backdrops and screens (one patched) that roll up and down in plain sight, the scenery cleverly painted to mimic a provincial production with pretensions.

Deedrick, Beck and the rest of the team, including costumer Helen E. Rodgers and wig and makeup designer Sue Sittko Schaefer, have filled the show with delightful touches, from the baritone’s hair to the mask borrowed from "Aida," and gags too numerous to catch in one sitting.

The overture, for example, starts with house lights up, which confuses the audience … until the action begins. At the end of the second act, when the soprano raises her veil and the bass sees her for the first time, the stage floods with pink light and the audience sees the world through the bass’ proverbial rose-colored glasses. One of the many highlights was the reprise of the patter duet by bass and baritone, a scene straight from vaudeville that brought the house down.

HOT’s "Don Pasquale" features a talented and engaging cast. Ruminski was occasionally covered by the orchestra but has a strong voice and makes an excellent blustering fool, the focal point of all the action. Tall and handsome, Dyer is a charming leading man, and his lovely tenor shone in every scene.

Of course, the true match in this opera is not the romantic one between Ernesto and Norina but the strategic one between Norina and Dr. Malatesta. Pollock is an accomplished actress with the vocal gymnastics to outmaneuver Don Pasquale, and Markgraf, in his HOT debut, ruled the production, his powerful, spot-on baritone commanding both music and action.

At Friday’s performance, the supertitles kept fading out, a problem HOT was working to fix, but fortunately, the entire cast acted every line, making the story easy to follow, with or without translation.

The orchestra was less polished than usual, but conductor Ivan Torzs kept the pacing light while giving the singers room to play. The chorus was woven throughout, energetically propelling the action not only when singing but also as actors and stagehands, and John Mount made the most of his appearance as a sneezing Notary.

HOT’s "Don Pasquale" is a must-see for everyone who enjoys theater and is a perfect introduction to opera: Novices will love the fun and games, while aficionados will love the spoof on opera buffa, which is a spoof on serious opera, which comments on the human condition.

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Ruth O. Bingham received her doctorate in musicology from Cornell University and has been reviewing the musical arts for more than 20 years.