Royal Opera House: DON PASQUALE

Director: Damiano Michieletto

135 min, with one interval.

Screenwriter: Music: Gaetano Donizetti. Libretto: Giovanni Ruffini and Gaetano Donizetti.

Cast: Bryn Terfel, Ioan Hotea, Markus Werba, Olga Peretyatko.

 

In Italian with English subtitles. Royal Opera favorite Bryn Terfel heads the cast for this new production of Donizetti’s amusing story of a middle-aged man whose supposed young wife (the charming Olga Peretyatko) runs rings around him. The sparkling music and wit of Don Pasquale, here set in modern-times London, shows how touching the story remains.

“If you want escapist bliss — and who doesn’t right now? — the Royal Opera’s new staging of Donizetti’s comic opera is almost perfect. I was dazzled by mostly brilliant singing and the scintillating playing of the orchestra under Evelino Pido’s seasoned direction and touched by the acting of a top-notch cast.” – The Times, London,