{TABLE} Don Pasquale ............ Donizetti {/TABLE} THIS was opera buffa as kitchen sink comedy. Director Peter McMahon and signer Tamsin Tillier have set; the abridged version of Donizetti's comic masterpiece in 1950s suburbia, in a semi replete with flowered wallpaper, china ducks which literally fly off the wall and an actual kitchen sink in which Dr Malatesta washes his hands, and Ernesto his socks. As well, as the many visual gags, there is some fine music making, not least from pianist/musical director Alessandro Vitiello, who executes the busy score with, aplomb.
The leading roles are taken by young singers: Mexican baritone Lois Ledesma in the title role; Italian soprano Patrizia Cgga as Norina: Peruvian Juan Diego Florez as her tenor lover, Ernesto; and Scottish baritone David Stephenson as Dr Malatesta. All four articulate the Italian text cleanly, especially of course Ms Cigna, who is utterly believable as a conniving vixen andis the only one in the cast to inject a sense of fun into her singing. Vocally, though, her shallow tones cannot compete with the men in ensemble, something which caused the tenor to lose pitch in an effort to avoid drowning her in their duet Tornami a dir che m'ami.
For the rest, I fear that everything is sung in too straitlaced a fashion. For all their vocal prowess - and there is some very good and disciplined singing to be heard - none of the men has the vocal twinkle so essential in Italian comic opera. This lack of buffo awareness is most noticeable in the baritones' patter duet Aspetta, aspetta, cara sposina.