Princeton Opera Alliance – Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. October 19, 2014.

Princeton Meadow Church, Princeton, NJ. ($10.)

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Derrick Goff.  Don Pasquale – Joshua Hemmings, Malatesta – Rashard Deleton, Ernesto – Tom Mulder, Norina – Pei-Ju Yu, Notary – Craig Sanphy.

We were made aware of this opera performance by Angela, whose son plays in the orchestra.  Our intention was to be there to show support.  I remember seeing this opera at the Met, and seeing Anna Netrebko for the first time singing the role of Norina.  In the back of mind, I was wondering how to compare tonight’s performance with one at the Met that boasted a renowned cast (Juan Diego Forez sang the part of Ernesto.)

If I were to write a headline for the review, it would be “A Gem in the Rough Nestled in a Corner of New Jersey.”  It was already impressive that the artists managed to put together a respective rendition of a rather complex piece of music, it was even more so with the singers performing at a high standard.

It didn’t start out that way: the orchestra began the overture with intonation and precision problems.   Luckily it began to settle down when they reached the well-known tune “So anch’io la virtu magica.”  This would characterize the orchestra’s playing throughout the evening, some passages that were okay interspersed in a mostly marginally acceptable performance.  Orchestra members range from senior citizens to (maybe) middle school kids.

The set is simple, which is to be expected given the budget the company has to work with.  A desk, a sofa, and some backboards.  Some plastic plants were trotted out for the garden scene.  The only suggestion I have would be to add some soundsoak to dampen the echoes that proved distracting and annoying.

The singers, however, were uniformly good, with most of them holding advanced degrees in music from well-known schools.  The small sanctuary certainly made projecting their voices much easier, but it was still impressive how well they carried themselves.  Yu belted out her lines so loudly that I worried that she would lose it at the end of the opera.  She didn’t.  The one complaint I have was the volume of the singers was mostly on “high.”  While the comedic nature of the opera doesn’t require a lot of introspection, a soft passage here or there would be a great improvement.

The opera calls for a minimal cast, and no chorus.  Still Donizetti squeezed in quite a few duets, trios, and quartets.  (I didn’t notice any quintets even though there was a total of five singers.)  The arias were many and nice, but I find most of them not quite hummable.  The story, however, was as inane as my first encounter with it.

Only about 60 people or so attended the performance – and I suspect the majority of them were family and friends.  It is a real pity since it would have been a pleasant 3-hour experience.  The artists are to be commended since they didn’t allow this to dampen their enthusiasm.