Bryn Terfel as Elvis/Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore

[tenorbear60]

I agree with those who defend this production. I bet Terfel didn't feel he was participating in trash - that is a very strong word, not to be thrown around lightly. It may be goofy, but its fresh. Donizetti wouldn't have understood the pop references of course, but this certainely was popular music in its day. So, lighten the hell up and rock with Bryn. He's having a great time, maybe you should be too.

[baritoper]

Bryn Terfel has a divine voice.He is always perfect and he will not over.

FOREVER BRYN TERFEL

[sartrific]

I think he is wonderful here! His voice, his acting, his costume, everything. Again, bravo Bryn!

[edmanetti]

Dulcamara= Presley?? Why?? It's really IDIOT and with a bad singing!

[BassoCantante19]

0:23 Sick and tired of Terfel opening his mouth wide RIGOROUSLY ON ONLY ONE SIDE when he hits low notes. Just makes them sound horrible.

[ArmandoCintra]

horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[sartrific]

I think it is priceless - and Bryn is as usual matchless! 

[Matt75003]

By which I mean,the whole thing is vulgar to a T and gloriously over the top. Yet it is all oddly touching, as it should be—Nemorino believes Dulcamara's claims, and he is proved right in the end. We must see through Dulcamara and at the same time understand Nemorino's childish admiration for him; this calls for a hint of magic on top of all the hype.

[Matt75003]

This is more or less what Dulcamara would look like in Berlusconi's Italy.

[FootBoss]

Personally, this doesnt really work for me. I dont object to 'modernised' productions but they are always a risk, and this one I think misses the mark. But theres too much bile in some of these comments. Calm down people. It was an attempt to make L'elisr accessible to new audiences. Also, close your eyes and listen to it and you have to agree he nails it, vocally, so give him credit for that at least.

[RatherLargeAllan]

There is no other singer on this planet that could carry this off with Terfel's panache and sheer cheek! Full marks to him. Comic opera should be played for laughs.

[ahoire]

eurotrash or not, this is definitely trash. boooooo

[cmorgan22]

I agree. I don't know why I like it either! I've see this opera so many times (especially with Pav as Nemorino and Dara as Dulcamara). I don't usually like stuff like this, but somehow it works! After all it IS a comedy and why not play it to the hilt? As always, the singing is what should predominate, and Terfel knows how to sing it and milk it for all it's worth. What fun. NY audiences would probably boo this production to death!

[TitoSchipa65]

shit! buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[kdkevs]

I think it's kind of funny. They are taking a risk. And Terfel makes it work as Elvis Dulcamara.  Clearly Elvis in his later years!! I laughed out loud a few times. Thanks to Gabba02 for posting!!

[Giannini1980]

I think they do not turn Dulcamara here into Elvis, I think they are turning him into a bad Elvis impersonator.

I saw it in Amsterdam, it did not distract a bit on the evening in my opinion. I my humble opinion only seeing this clip is as well not a reason to judge a complete production.

[royarmjr]

He may not be the most good-looking face but he does have a wonderful voice. Sometimes staging directors are aware of their vision in directing, and they might think they can get away with murder if necessary, but remember, if there's money in the pocket and investors believe in projects, they are the ones who have to be thanked because we can still admire such great artists as Bryn Terfel! If they do their best, we can still enjoy their work. Don't you think so?

[Lasinjoro]

I agree that this is a comic opera, but turning Dulcamara into Elvis is totally senseless and of a terrible taste.

I wonder how could Terfel agree to do this.

[Martinowor]

He takes it to the limit, but he sounds great, and it's totally in character -- I don't think the director was out of line at all --

[MrGratefulheart]

How disgraceful indeed! They look like they're having fun...

[contatolirico]

Dulcamara is similar to Elvis? Elvis was a salesman? Elvis fooling people? Dulcamara, Casino, Elvis, the game. Nothing makes sense here.

[contatolirico]

The fact Elisir be a comic opera does not justify this ridiculous version. Nobody is talking about the vocal talents of Bryn. Yes, it's trash, diverts attention from the story. Visually it's ugly, is a blot on the career of a great singer.

The opera is an old thing, has its rules. Who defends it, which makes a similar version. and be happy!

[noneisbetter]

I agree this production is trash. It does nothing to help the storyline.

It makes no sense to have Dulcamara dressed up like this. I prefer opera to be trated like it is: a teatrical play. What's the use of all this "innovative" costumes and staging if you can't understand the story that's going on?

[drawkward86]

Eurotrash is a word that gets thrown around way too much. It's insulting and I can't stand it. I haven't seen this entire production, but this is a lot of fun, in the spirit of the piece, and Bryn totally sells it. Why bother seeing an opera like Elixir that everybody's seen a million times if it's going to look the same as every other time we've seen it? It's great that productions like this showcase the imaginations of the director and the entire production team in a way you don't often see.

[Mooorhe]

@Luck1au

Rubbish. He's great.

[LordoftheTrapdoors]

In this aria He prefer expression and acting to pure singing (He sings a bit too liberally and "verist style" for a belcanto aria). His voice is not always perfect (but I think this is a his personal choice, because when He want, he can sing perfectly -hear his Leporello in Abbado's Don Giovanni!-) And He is a very great actor too (Opera is not a concert or a cd, it must be primarily theatre!).

[coracleman]

very funny - Bryn makes a great Elvis - let's face it, he is lots slimmer! And he is not an overrated singer, he is the best.

coraclewoman

[RickZwart]

@Luck1au ?

[TheYlva81]

Why are watching this than and even read and comment? ;p

[TheEternalCount]

hahaha very funny!!!! XDDD

[TheYlva81]

Is there any dutch out there who can help this swedish girl and say where to get this complete production on DVD? Can one order it from dutch TV 2?

[TheYlva81]

I LOVE IT!!! I can´t understand you who are against this! It´s the best Dulcamara ever. I love Bryn, Elvis And Donizetti and this new silver dressed Brelvis creature. Only Bryn could do this and make it work. Oh, Bryn!

[elephantbarbiegirl]

What a hoot! Love it! Bryn makes a great "Elvis"

[vivacecilia]

Genial regia!!!!

Bryn is a very artist!!!!

I love this version!

[sop1119]

It is a bit jarring...but it really is kind of a creative idea. Considering that opera really was about entertainment, this isn't a terrible stretch. Opera doesn't need to be treated as sacred.

[crshdhrt]

Well I don't see his career hurting one bit from this.

How lucky and talented a performer that he can choose his roles. And yes I say choose because he definitely CHOSE this role knowing full well what it was about. Dulcamara may be a shyster, but no one tricked/forced Bryn. So please don't assume he was duped itnto this.

I admire the risk he took. How many times can he put on a period costume? How many times can this be set in a rustic village? It's different, so allow it to be that.

[crshdhrt]

Oh, and if you don't like Euro-trash opera, don't watch it. They've had opera a lot longer than America, so if they want to change it up a little, let em.

You know what they say about another man's Euro-treasure...

(Sorry, I had to.)

What I mean is I hope people can see this as ART. Half the things I see in MOMA I don't get, but hey it's hanging there.

[FotografoMuscle737]

Great Production! What's the problem to do something different above all if it's "musical" .... Amsterdam is the place for future ... Great!

[Commentmonster2008]

That is the single worst thing I've ever seen. With the amount of contracts being sent that man's way, you'd think he'd have the balls to punch that director straight in the face and say "sorry, I'm an opera singer, not a washed up Vegas cabaret hack."

[sevenstartotheright]

.... O________________O?!?!?

Agreed, pleasant to listen to, I think I'll just...uh...turn away from the computer while I listen... ;___;

Kind of sad how directors have to resort to this sort of "modernization" just to get today's crowd to appreciate opera. They can get away with period presentation with broadway, there ought to be some justice for opera. :(

[Albertpreason27]

No you are not old fashion... However when Donizetti composed this opera it was staged with costumes of his age... Strange but true... Opera was not a classic it was an innovation once...

[ingriddoppler]

Call me oldfashion . I love Terfels voice but these modern stagings make me sick ~ a opera shouldn´t be converted into a " cirque"

[marymery100]

Ho visto Dulcamara interpretato ottimamente da Dara, D'Arcangelo e Alaimo, ma questo pezzo ha qualcosa in più: la genialità della regia, della scenografia, dei costumi, oltre che all'effervescente travestimento di Dulcamara. Non è sicuramente un'interpretazione "canonica", ma è assolutamente godibile. Vorrei tanto che il DVD fosse messo in commercio.

[AmadeusJMB]

Vocally it's very nice....the costumes, etc. are outrageously annoying!

[ingriddoppler]

....couldn´t agree more with you!!!

[BassoAntico]

The best Dulcamara with Bruscantini and Dara.

[SerbianSoprano]

Wow! This is SO Great! Thank yoy for posting this! Bryn if marvelous as always, and I LOVE this production!!!

[evaeke]

They do great work in Amsterdam!!!

The rest of Europe is always copying their concepts.

[jeffro887]

Is there some way for me to get this whole production? Can I buy it on dvd anywhere?

[sopranobrasile]

I would love to see a staging like this with such a good cast!

[tehen162]

Absolutely wonderful. I love it. Terfel is a perfect Dulcamara.

[PoloLoamsdown]

That was hilarious.

This may have been said before, but if Bryn Terfel were any less talented, this could have been something of a disaster.

[Desideria7]

Meno male che non deve fare sesso durante l'aria con direttore d'oprchestra. Comunque grazie per il posting, ora sappiamo tutti che dal teatro di Amsterdam non si puo' aspettare niente di meritevole.

[Desideria7]

Povero Bryn e povero Donizetti... Evviva i registi che uccidono quel poco che e' rimasto dell'opera...

[marokt]

I think Donizetti would love this!

[rrgallo]

Thanks, I had always wanted to see this..Nice phrasing...entertainingly over the top but don't consider it outragous...But yes, as somebody said below.."God! and they must make these horrific things for to sirvive!"....

[100Singers]

What you see is the reason why great and good opera today is over and lost forever...

[HumanoidCarbonUnit]

Interesting.

Not something I would pay to see but it sounds wonderful and it is very funny to watch. And heck if it means there are more opera fans in the world I'm cool with it.

[Elgranbajo]

Thanks for uploading it. I really enjoyed it. It´s vocally wonderful, and about the scene, i really found it great. Very funny and it´s justified the replacement!!!!

[nita2605]

Opera is about the singing and music. I don't care what people do as long as they keep the music and frankly people should be trying to do something to broaden the appeal of this marvelous art form. I see opera audiences dwindle every year and no young people attend. People should be trying different things to broaden the exposure to such great works. Besides opera has often been absurd, look at most of the plots of even non-comic operas.

[marcusunlimited]

brilliant, great costuming ideas and Bryn made it amazing:)

[Mercent123]

Absolutely wonderful to watch! :-)

[abcejin]

perfect!

[mariahelleberg]

and what shall we call ameritrash - old fat farty fools doing things the way it was done in 1884?

[ejrouge]

I don't know if it is really necessary to do this kind of things to turn the sights into the opera... but i can't deny Bryn looks very funny this way, ha ha. Thanks for uploading this.

[brunnhildeH]

Why tras?

L'elisire is a comic opera, and anyway, Dulcamara sells shit and cheets anyone and everyone. Nowdays his type of bastards are doing things exactly on the way it is staged here. Opera is not about remembering the past ages but about living people.

And Terfel is great, feels the figure in guts and has great, flexible voice and beautiful coloraturas.

[Ankhsnammon]

Horrible!

Obscene!

PURE TRASH!

ankhsnammon

[minnie888444]

Right. You are absolutely right. Unfortunately, in Europe, this is almost the ONLY way they do opera these days! Perhaps not in Italy!

[Ankhsnammon]

I hate to see opera singers doing this...God! and they must make these horrific things for to sirvive!

Damned times we live!

Nina

[minnie888444]

Right, Nina!

[LeoImage]

This is not the most horrific example.

The main thing is that such things are used to involve more and more people into the world of real music, so beautiful and full of emotions.

[grundeken]

Brilliant!!! Probably the only way to perform this fine music nowadays in a believable way.

I'm so lucky to live in Europe! And not centuries away...

[fieldcastilla]

This was great!! Comic roles suit Terfel very well. I believe this production is pretty fun which I think is what counts in an opera buffa. Just my humble opinion :D.

[fieldcastilla]

"pretty funny" excuse me

[SadronAphaderuiondur]

LOL!!!

Pretty funny this video. I don't think its Eurotrash: L'elisir d'amore is a comic opera, isn't it? So what's wrong on making a laughable version with a funny and talented singer joking and singing wonderfully dressed like The King?

[karmyntyler]

OMG!!!! I really DO like it!!!! I've seen it soooooooo many times "the old" way! Heck! I think it's fantastic!! and I LOOOOOOVE Bryn!!! His voice makes me melt!!!!!

[asisecanta]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!

[jacquesurlus]

Je ne suis pas par principe contre les transpositions d'époques et de lieu à condition que cela

soit fait avec intelligence et respect de l'oeuvre. Ceci n'est qu'absurdité et vulgarité,

de la merde. Je suis toujour déçu quand je vois de grands artistes se prêter à ces entreprises qui a mon sens sont du vandalisme.

Une façon stupide pour des metteurs en scène

sans génie de se faire remarquer.

[fernancuatro]

en dos palabras: im...presionante!!! bravo

[HugaPenguin]

Eurotrash certainly is unfair. With all due respect, it's really not like "Elisir D'amore" is the greatest artwork of all time. The whole opera sort of kills time up to "Una Furtiva." That said, however, it does so quite well.

The point is, really, that this Opera's real strength lies in the fact that it's sort of a "B" opera and lends itself well to experimentation. Anyone who would try to justify that an opera like this deserves sanctity, I think, should consider the implications that has.

[CzarDodon]

I beg to differ, it is a masterpiece. Delightful touching, beautifully balanced between the Italian buffo tradition and something more melancholy...and full of splendid music. It's a sort of pastoral/romantic comic opera. Often, in performance it is not given its musical due, in the right hands it can work on a much deeper level than you would imagine. Don't dismiss it so easily.

[CzarDodon]

Sanctity I'll leave to the priests and bible bashers, it's a very dangerous path to take with art or artists.

[sarita423]

I saw this. It was on Dutch TV iirc. I thought the production totally worked. Do you have any clips of Kwiecien as Belcore, especially doing his striptease while singing "Come Paride vezzoso"? Talk about hot! This was Terfel's first Dulcamara and according to the pre-perfmance documentary, he was rather amused by the production.

[TitoAGoGO]

Bryn makes me all puffy down there! I can't wait to see him here in L.A. on the 20th!

[kihadat]

I would kill to have an opera singer sing right in front of me! Why don't we have more liberal productions like this one in the US?!

[CzarDodon]

Perhaps because your Opera Houses are funded by rich donors so Opera is more their 'upper class comfort zone' rather than a participating or socially engaged art form. I remember a Lusia Miller set in fascist Italy at la Fenice which was not well recieved, Italy has never really accepted responsability for its fascist past and the production touched a rawnerve. What would happen at the Met with an Aida in Vietnam or Nabucco with the nationalities reversed?

[Chivalryaintdead]

LOL WTF?

[Ridaren]

Frumoasa voce...dar regia lasa prea mult de dorit.

[goksayy]

super production

[fideliosmum]

Can I get this on dvd?

[gtelloz]

well, whats the problem here? if u want your doctor go to the Met then...

[qklq42]

In the netherlands is it possible that a half-crazy regisseur makes the setting of Parsifal in a house for fools in Romania at the time of the end of the communism !!! I would'n believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes in the Stadsschouwburg of Arnhem some years ago. It was abominable. I had to keep mij eyes thight during 3 hours! The Music with the Gelders Orkest under Lawrence van RENNES heavenly !

Hans NL

[brunogripp]

Easy to understand? In what sense can we understand this scene? Dulcamara is a medic, and Elvis was a pop singer. And in my entire life I've never seen a medic, even a charlatan, impersonating Elvis. If this is common in Netherlands, I beg your pardon. The régisseur was just trying to be funny, but there are far more inteligent ways to be funny, to name an European régisseur only: Laurent Pelly, he is not orthodox, but extremely coherent and funny.

[BurghTunes]

I love Terfel but this production looks stupid.

[theonlygriffo]

That's just terrible.

[gtelloz]

Disgraceful eurotrash production? i love it! U americans always want your easy-to-understand productions...

[qklq42]

It's just tasteless. You hav'nt to be an american to reject this.

Hans NL

[hakalaMAN]

Go to search and type Denis Isakovic. This Dulcamara is incredible!! Bryn Terfel is good singer but...he is not Dulcamara! Tempo is somethime so slooooow, he is not in tempo,and he maybe singing better Don Giovani-Mozart. I know Dulcamara is really hard party for bariton-voice, I understand that! Denis is Bariton and Bass (just like Ghiaurov)Compare and see. Please, we needs comments.

[berlinfl]

hahaha grandios. he's a great singer.

[Germania72]

I don't care if it's "disgraceful"...He's my idol after this video...hahahaha! What a nice sense of humour!

[scatterhead2]

Terfel è il migliore!!!

[AmadeusJMB]

I could live without them having used the costumes.

[NEMORINO1976]

I prefer Erwin Schrott.

[carmen1945]

terfel siempre fantastico, aqui imejorable.thanks for this video.

[redsox2213]

HAHAHAHAHA omg i love it

[Glenmed]

I wouldn't be surprised if he had a hand in arranging this. He turned up and sang at the Proms wearing a Welsh rugby shirt. Great character to go with his talent. Puts a lot of bums on seats wherever he goes.

[brendanemig]

i think it's funny... dulcimara is a con man... why not?

[sandraNorway]

A bit strange - but my god he's a great singer.

[qjuw]

Cheap... eurotrash... Well, I have seen the entire production, and I must say, it all made perfect sense. L'elisir is a hilarious opera buffo, so I don't see why a humoristic approach is so wrong.

[CzarDodon]

I fully agree with you, I only saw this bit and it may not be the most genial solution in the world, but it works and is quite funny and it's a comic opera. But here there are a lot of old nostalgics who want laces and tights and dusty old boring productions and call anything unusual Eurotrash (which I find a bit racist) thank god someone is experimenting. As with all experiments not every one works. I find Terfel too heavyhanded here, he is very tierd by the end and his high notes are flat.

[Sqid101]

"Eurotrash" is surely racist! I respect Terfel because he seems to be one of a few opera stars who keeps himself and the whole business in perspective. Sure, not every experiment succeeds and this may have failed, but without experiment there will be no progress and eventual terminal atrophication.

[CzarDodon]

Yes, the way some people go on you'd think that up until a few years ago operas were produced were exactly the same way as they day they were first performed. There have always been both technical developments and new interpretations, it's part of the wonder of it all.

[CrisRomeos]

This is crazy stuff lol :))

[msnicopanico]

You do know that this one is really, really quiet?? I bet this is opera that Chrissy would enjoy! ;)

[ponselle]

Please, oh please: more of this!

[ponselle]

I must be a pervert: I like it!

[oOFleurDeLisOo]

Your right, it's INCREDIBLY cheap! But i wonder how much they payed him for it... I wonder why he did it - for fun perhaps? I bet he enjoyed himself! He's still a wonderful singer though!