{"id":3019,"date":"2020-12-30T12:42:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T18:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/?page_id=3019"},"modified":"2020-12-30T12:45:51","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T18:45:51","slug":"don-pasquale-review","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/don-pasquale-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Pasquale Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"3019\" class=\"elementor elementor-3019\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-aa2c80a elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"aa2c80a\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-9a746e2\" data-id=\"9a746e2\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5e7cd8d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5e7cd8d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"article-section-header\"><section><div id=\"article-header\"><div class=\"article-header-title\"><h1 class=\"article-headline\">Review: It\u2019s almost all LOLs at LOON\u2019s updated \u2018Don Pasquale\u2019 opera<\/h1><div class=\"light-grey byline\"><span class=\"mr2 b primary\">Written By:\u00a0<span id=\"noLink\" class=\"ttu\">Christa Lawler<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><time class=\"timestamp\">Jun 12th 2014 &#8211; 11pm.<\/time><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div><div id=\"article-section-body\"><div class=\"article-body\"><div class=\"main-body\"><div class=\"first-p\">\u00a0<\/div><div class=\"p402_premium\"><p>He\u2019s a bachelor. You can see in his well-worn pajamas and the robe that could potentially be used in place of a napkin. He\u2019s a hunched man, shuffling on slippers to his chair.<br \/><br \/>His home is back-dated to the dawn of the mustard hues and it\u2019s cluttered with stacks of papers. But the artistic bust and bookcases suggest a certain amount of wealth &#8211; a history of family financial success probably originating from one of the men whose likeness is captured in portraiture on the wall.<br \/><br \/>But his luck is about to change, a couple times over actually, in Lyric Opera of the North\u2019s laugh-out-loud production of Gaetano Donizetti\u2019s \u201cDon Pasquale.\u201d<br \/><br \/>The comic opera set in the now, complete with cellphones and selfies, played for a close to capacity audience on Thursday\u2019s opening night at Lincoln Park Middle School Auditorium. LOON\u2019s production, sung (mostly) in English, includes a 20-plus-piece orchestra with conductor Dirk Meyer.<br \/><br \/>The titular character, sung by Rod Nelman, has promised his inheritance to his nephew Ernesto, but he lacks confidence in the younger man\u2019s love interest, Norina. The old man hatches a plan with his confidante Dr. Malatesta: Pasquale will marry the doc\u2019s sister and leave the money to her. Ernesto is out.<br \/><br \/>The plan brings an insta youthfulness and revives the aged bachelor. Pasquale, played as a lovable innocent it pains to see duped, is able to cast aside the oxygen tank and turn his walker into a dance partner (at least until the maid shows up).<br \/><br \/>Malatesta, sung by LOON regular Jeffrey Madison, is a giddy havoc creator. Like he might just be mixing things up to keep himself entertained. He stops mid-song to answer his phone. He orders green curry. He tests the fourth wall.<br \/><br \/>He arranges for Norina to become his knee-knockingly shy sister Sofronia. She will marry Pasquale then she will terrorize Pasquale to the point where he gives his blessing to the Ernesto-Norina union.<br \/><br \/>Ernesto (Gennard Lombardozzi) is first seen in a tennis pose with a sweater wrapped around his shoulders. He\u2019s got the natural sprawl of the spoiled &#8211; until he learns of his disinheritance. Then he tucks his Wilson racquet against his chest like a security blanket and moans about his fate.<br \/><br \/>Norina (Sarah Lawrence) is a girlie-girl, poking at a pink iPad then preening and plucking in the mirror. After conniving with Malatesta she is presented to Pasquale as inexperienced and shy and hidden beneath a dark veil. After the paperwork is signed, she strips down to reveal a hot-tempered, big-spending, self-portrait procuring antagonist whose pack of servants resemble an entourage. She enters the room beneath a shower of glitter.<br \/><br \/>A nasty faceoff with her new husband silenced Thursday\u2019s audience &#8211; which until then had been quick with well-earned laughs. The moment gave Norina an extra layer, one that wonders how far is too far when it comes to scheming.<br \/><br \/>The first half of this two-plus-hour production has all the hammy character developing moments that play in a fun and sitcom-like way.<br \/><br \/>After the intermission, the chorus is introduced as a crew of servants who perform hand-clapping, knee-slapping choreography, creeping out of the woodwork to provide backing vocals as the jig expires on Pasquale\u2019s lawn.<br \/><br \/>And of course, as is the way in a modern opera, it all ends with selfies.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review: It\u2019s almost all LOLs at LOON\u2019s updated \u2018Don Pasquale\u2019 opera Written By:\u00a0Christa Lawler\u00a0|\u00a0Jun 12th 2014 &#8211; 11pm. \u00a0 He\u2019s a bachelor. You can see in his well-worn pajamas and the robe that could potentially be used in place of a napkin. He\u2019s a hunched man, shuffling on slippers to his chair. His home is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3019","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3019"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3022,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3019\/revisions\/3022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}