Arts & Events

Alameda’s thriving Island City Opera Company opened the comic opera Don Pasquale last Friday. The opera buffa was a relief from the angst of Inauguration Day. 

Island City Opera plays in the Elks Lodge Ballroom on Santa Clara just a few blocks off the main drag of Park Street. It is a grand building, and the ballroom has a beaux arts stained glass dome that gives grandeur appropriate to opera. 

While the production has its faults and is somewhat uneven in talent, there is much to recommend it, and it is worth the trip to the lsland of Alameda to see its local art. 

Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale is the age-old zany tale of the old man who wants a young wife. The hoary, rich Pantalone character chasing the ingénue has been a staple comic figure since Greek comedy through Commedia dell’Arte and beyond. 

A quick synopsis: Don Pasquale’s nephew and heir Ernesto has refused to marry the woman his uncle selected for him because he is in love with a young widow. To punish Ernesto for his disobedience, Pantalone decides to take a bride himself and disinherit him. He consults Dr. Malatesta (“headache” in Italian), who in this case is an Arlecchino/Dottore hybrid--a light-hearted, astute consigliore of the rich merchant who thwarts the plans of his master in favor of his own interests. His sister is the young widow Norina and the object of Ernesto’s affection. Malatesta plots to introduce her to Don Pasquale as a young virgin direct from the convent and prospective wife. His scheme is for her to access the Don’s wealth and secure her innamorato Ernesto’s (and her own and probably brother Malatesta’s) future. She pretends to be demure at first, but immediately after the faux marriage ceremony, Norina morphs into a shrew and spendthrift. Pantalone tries to tame her, but to no avail, and relents to a settlement to be rid of her. 

Here is the wiki-blurb for a tad of background: “Don Pasquale was first performed on 3 January 1843 by the Théâtre-Italien at the Salle Ventadour in Paris with great success and it is generally regarded as being the high point of the 19th century opera buffa tradition and, in fact, marking its ending.” 

The Good: 

Merola grad and Adler Fellow Basso-baritono Bojan Knezevic plays Don Pasquale with baritone Igor Viera as the fixer Dr. Malatesta. They both have superior, professional voices, but, just as important, both possess the comedic ability that is essential for the buffa. They do not mug, they are expressive in a heightened fashion, and play the comic reality at all times. 

I found myself laughing my head off, not just at the acting, but also at their expertly navigating the challenging prestissimo tongue-twisting lyrics. 

The set was spare but satisfying, with the vista of San Francisco excellently replicated. The garden scene rolled in from backstage was superb. The lighting was commendable with special kudos to the follow-spot operator. 

The chorus was very good as was the orchestra which was conducted by Philip Kutner. 

Eileen Meredith has a clear, young-sounding soprano which can facilely reach coloratura heights although it wasn’t shown in its full vigor until the second act. 

The Maybe-Not-So-Good: 

Tenor Sergio Gonzales was regrettably ill with a fever, and is to be commended for a valiant effort. His voice came alive at the end of the first act in an engaging aria, but in the second act his understudy sang from the orchestra while he lip-synched the love-duet. 

Neither of the lovers believably sustained the comedy. Opera is best when it combines impressive acting with great singing. Ms. Meredith’s pretended fits of pique are not the blood-in-the-eye, deranged and menacing tantrums that you can see in any romance language cinema. Mr. Gonzalez gets a sick-day excuse. 

The staging was presentational and prosaic. Giovanni Ruffino’s libretto specifies that it is set in Rome--it is truly a Roman Comedy—yet director Erin Neff chose to set it in San Francisco though nothing else in the play seemed to invoke San Francisco. 

The costuming had no thematic unity with a few unfortunate choices such as an old biddy’s brown dress and veil for Norina and Don Pasquale in a suit suited for a Texas cattle rancher, plaid with red embroidered shoulders and a bolo tie, when there is no reference to his being in oil or cattle or even Southern Italy. 

The staging of the chorus had them clumped together and banging into each other in what was supposedly slapstick but was neither specific nor practiced to a tee as comedy must be. 

Regardless of its unevenness, it is worth it to travel to Alameda for a regaling good time, a full bar, and a grand site. And of course to support a superior effort to sustain this fragile art form and make it local. 

Don Pasquale plays though next weekend: Friday 7:30 January 28 and Sunday, January 29.  

Go to www.islandcityopera.org /call 510-263-8060. Tickets $40-$60, seniors $36, students $10 

(From Berkeley, it’s about as far as the San Francisco Opera and the same 25 minutes. From Oakland/Piedmont, it’s an easy 13 minutes. Exit 23^rd St. off 880 South, turn left onto the bridge, follow Park St. to 2255 Santa Clara down a couple of blocks to the Elk’s Ballroom with B.P.O.E unmistakably emblazoned on the portico, enter through the back of the building.) 

Island City Opera’s next offering is Don Quichotte by Massenet with the most excellent talent of Igor Viera (Dr. Malatesta!) directing and performing the role of Sancho Panza. March 1, 3, 5, 10, 12.