A keeper: ENO’s new The Elixir of Love reviewed

There was some light booing on the first night of English National Opera’s The Elixir of Love, but it was the good kind – the friendly kind, aimed not at the baritone Dan D’Souza but his character, the caddish charmer Belcore. In other words, it was what opera snobs call ‘pantomime booing’, and which, as a peculiarly British phenomenon, they affect to deplore. If it happened in Munich or Milan they’d brandish it as evidence of an advanced opera-going culture – proof that an audience has been so completely transported by a performance that they’re reluctant to step out of its world. But any singer who’s remotely familiar with British theatrical traditions knows that it’s a compliment, and D’Souza beamed. It had been a thoroughly good-natured evening all round.

Which was as it should be, because The Elixir of Love is pure operatic romcom. Donizetti is out to charm and entertain and so is ENO, though at times Harry Fehr’s production – updated to rural England during the second world war – tries slightly too hard. Adina (Rhian Lois) owns a stately home where a battalion of land girls has been billeted.

Belcore and his military pals are moustachioed flyboys from a nearby RAF base, and Dulcamara (Brandon Cedel) is a spiv in a striped suit. Skies are blue, haircuts are distinctly non-regulation and if the set-up seems a little too neat to be true we can relax because the first thing we see is a huge animated TV screen. This isn’t real wartime, apparently, but a Dad’s Army-style sitcom, allowing the whole concept to have its Victoria sponge and eat it.

Well, ENO needs to replenish its store cupboard of bankable, revivable standard rep. Fehr’s Elixir looks pleasant (designs are by Nicky Shaw) and there’s plenty of scope for personalisation by future casts.