Don Pasquale July 25, 2012

For its seventh season Boston Midsummer Opera (BMO) presents a sparkling comic masterpiece, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, playing at the Tsai Performance Center at Boston University for three performances only, July 25, 27, and 29. Obie Award winner/Tony Award nominee Austin Pendleton directs the fully staged and costumed production. Music director and nationally acclaimed conductor Susan Davenny Wyner leads the performances, which will be performed with orchestra and sung in English. Metropolitan Opera bass Ricardo Lugo will sing the role of Don Pasquale.
Don Pasquale is an opera whose score bursts with life and lyricism and whose drama has a few surprises along the way, especially at Don Pasquale’s expense. The old bachelor Don Pasquale plans to marry in order to punish his rebellious nephew, Ernesto, who is in love with the young widow Norina. Pasquale wants an heir so he can cut the young man off without a penny. He consults Dr. Malatesta, who suggests as a bride his own beautiful younger sister. Feeling his youth returning, the delighted Pasquale tells Malatesta to arrange a meeting at once. Ernesto learns that his friend Malatesta has arranged Pasquale’s marriage and feels betrayed, but little does he know that Dr. Malatesta is in fact plotting on Norina and Ernesto’s behalf. Will Don Pasquale end up happy and with a wife by his side, or will he join the others in observing that a spirited young bride is not always the best match for a curmudgeonly old bachelor?
Performances of Don Pasquale are Wednesday, July 25th and Friday, 27th at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 29th at 3:00 p.m