Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Comic Relief

Though ohhing and ahhing may be par for the course at the Metropolitan Opera, laughter is far more rare. Indeed, in a season where Richard Wagner’s weighty Ring cycle is the big draw, Gaetano Donizetti’s buoyant opera buffa Don Pasquale is a breath of fresh air. The tangled love story — in which a greedy uncle attempts to trick his nephew out of his inheritance by getting hitched, only to have the tables turned — is full of comic material, from a demure new bride who becomes a demanding spendthrift to onstage somersaults by soprano superstar Anna Netrebko. The New York Times declared the lighthearted fare “brilliant” in its 2006 premiere, directed by Otto Schenk. Screen the three-hour, 15-minute spectacle at an area theater this week.