This week was packed with exceptional cultural events, and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale was one of them. Unlike Don Giovanni, where I knew every chord (except for the part not performed in the Soviet Union), this opera was completely unknown to me. And OMG, how splendid it was! For some reason, our seats were farther away than usual, so I am glad Boris and I will attend it again and sit closer. I am sure I will enjoy it even more!
One fun fact: I didn’t look at the cast bios before the show, but when the curtain went up and the show started, I noticed right away that Don Pasquale looked very much like one of the main characters of Khanuma – a Soviet movie based on a classical Georgian vaudeville play. I thought: how come? But then my neighbor, who went with me, asked, “Did you see that the singer who plays Don Pasquale is Georgian?” Then I realized it wasn’t a coincidence.
Yes, there are only that many ways to portray an older guy trying to marry a young girl, but in that case, the gestures, the way Misha Kiria moved on the stage, were unmistakably “borrowed” from Khanuma.
