Utah Opera's The Elixir of Love

I opted out of seeing The Elixir of Love by Gaetano Donizetti that last time Utah Opera programmed it (I tend to prefer the tragedies) so I was excited for the opportunity at a matinee yesterday.  The production was incredibly charming and I thoroughly enjoyed myself!  A poor young man named Nemorino (Daniel O'Hearn) is hopelessly in love with Adina (Katrina Galka), the wealthy and capricious owner of an orange grove.  He declares his love to her but she is exasperated by his attentions and encourages Sergeant Belcore (Alexander Birch Elliott) when he and his soldiers come to the village.  The arrogant Belcore proposes and, when Adina does not refuse him, Nemorino falls into despair.  His hopes are reignited when Doctor Dulcamara (Daniel Belcher) and his assistant (Gemma Isaacson) arrive proclaiming that they have a cure for every ailment.  He asks for an elixir to make Adina fall in love with him and the assistant quickly creates one by adding orange juice to an old wine bottle.  Dulcamara tells him that it will take one day before it works to give himself time to leave the village before his fraud is discovered.  Nemorino is so confident the elixir will work he ignores Adina which, of course, gets her attention and she agrees to marry Belcore to make him jealous.  Mayhem ensues when Nemorino's wealthy uncle dies leaving him his fortune and all of the women in the village clamor for his attention.  When Adina becomes jealous and cries, Nemorino realizes that she loves him.  When Dulcarama, believing his elixir to be a success, confesses to Adina what Nemorino has done, she finally realizes how much he loves her.  The libretto is so much fun and I loved seeing all of the hijinks on stage, especially when all of the women pursue Nemorino (everyone in the audience laughed out loud).  The music, performed beautifully by the Utah Symphony under the baton of Steven White, is delightful and the vocal performances from the entire cast are expressive and effervescent.  I especially loved Galka's lively performance of the aria, "Della crudele Isotta," which gives Nemorino the idea for an elixir of love, and O'Hearn's heartfelt interpretation of the famous aria, "Una furtiva lagrima," when Nemorino understands what Adina's tear means (I recognized this immediately but never knew what opera it came from).  This specific production was originally conceived by the Minnesota Opera and changes the setting from a vineyard in Italy in the early 1800s to an orange grove in California in the early 1900s and, while I am not always a fan of doing this, I loved that the set features Mission-style architecture with a backdrop of orange trees and that the costumes feature World War I-era military uniforms.  I had so much fun watching this opera but, unfortunately, yesterday was the final performance.  However, I definitely recommend getting a ticket to the final opera of the year, La Traviata (go here).