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Strong Performances
Donizetti's 'Don Pasquale',
reviewed by ROBERT HUGILL
Having devoted their Autumn 2009 tour to Handel, English Touring Opera are back this Spring with three masterpieces from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A two month tour to sixteen venues got off to a resounding start on 8 March 2010 with William Oldroyd's new production of Donizetti's Don Pasquale sung in David Parry's practical English translation.
Oldroyd's production got off to a bad start as Keel Watson's Don Pasquale, re-imagined by Oldroyd as a distinguished conductor, stood in front of the curtain and pretended to direct the ETO orchestra whilst Dominic Wheeler conducted from the pit. Watson's antics included correcting wrong notes from the orchestra and stopping them at one point. The audience found this hilarious but it certainly wasn't the way that I wanted to see the opera...
Copyright © 11 March 2010
Robert Hugill,
London UK
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