Elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love)

The country bumpkin loves the village beauty. She possesses a bit of money, education and sophistication, whose lack he laments, feeling that it creates an impassable gulf. His redeeming quality of complete and untutored sincerity makes him both a victim of charlatanry and the ultimate victor in amore. A patent-oil salesman and a narcissistic recruitment officer breeze into town to fill out the cast of hilariously colorful characters. The infectious charm of this favorite opera lies in its balance between naïveté and depth in its sunny narration of requited love, told through bel canto melodies of irresistible beauty — all of which comes to life on the intimacy of the small stage.