Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Mazzola's acute, physically readable listening skills, which he seemed then to organically transfer to the tip of his baton, are already a feature of his young tenure at Chicago's Lyric Opera. Like many in the house for the bel canto opera "The Elixir of Love" on Sunday afternoon, Mazzola surely was reacting to how this great tenor not only seemed consumed by the emotions of adoration, but he was engaged in an illuminative acoustic interplay with his own singing. The building was listening to his voice along with his audience, and he was repaying its favor in rapturous kind, releasing and holding his notes in such a way as to emphasize their liveness, expanding the veracity of their emotional underpinning."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Lyric's cast is stellar. Castronovo is one of the world's finest tenors, and he brought the full power of his warm, virile voice to the role. The opera's most famous aria, "Una furtiva lagrima (A single secret tear)," is a showcase for tenors, and Castronovo's performance took us into the deepest recesses of its slow, uncluttered melodies. Aided by an empathic orchestra, his simple, lyrical phrases had room to breathe. Encouraged by Adina's hidden tear, Nemorino begins to believe she might actually care for him. Savoring the silences between phrases, sending Donizetti's heartfelt melodies to Lyric's rafters, Castronovo revealed the full force of Nemorino's hopeful yearning."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Never doubt that an Italian opera from the early nineteenth century can still delight and amuse a foreign audience. Gaetano Donizetti’s classical love story The Elixir of Love is the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s first fully produced comedy since its reopening, and the new-to-Chicago production by its British original director, Daniel Slater, is as cheery and clever as anything by Gilbert and Sullivan and as dynamic as Sondheim. Musical director Enrique Mazzola’s conducting of the flowing bel canto makes for easy listening, and the singing actors’ timing takes the show from wryly entertaining to laugh out loud funny."
WTTW - Highly Recommended
"...Just a few days after raising the curtain on its pitch black production of Verdi's "Macbeth," Lyric Opera treated its audiences to a delicious confection by way of Gaetano Donizetti's beguiling romantic comedy, "The Elixir of Love" ("L'elisir d'amore"), a delightful and winningly insightful tale of true love, money, egotism, self-doubt, wishful thinking and charlatanism. And, to top it all off, it comes with a happy ending."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...This is a real opportunity to see this piece where the music is truly cherished by a return to the original score and fashioning, set in a place and time we still see on our television screens regularly. The largest reason not to miss this production is the performance of tenor Charles Castronovo as Nemorino, the young man in and of the village who is in love with the glamorous, out-of-his league Adina."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended
"...Elixir of Love is a long-awaited reward for those who have eagerly anticipated opera's return, as well as newcomers. It's a spectacular celebration of togetherness and art in our own world, as well as a much-needed escape into another world- a carefree Italian summer overflowing with beauty, music, hot air balloons, and love."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...A soulful bassoon melody summons our ears to what is perhaps Donizetti's most famous of arias -- Una Furtiva Lagrima. Quiet and contemplative, and closer to the opera's end than beginning, it's slow-moving pace seems to populate an island in the otherwise playful pile-on romp that is Donizetti's Elixir of Love. Tenor Charles Castronovo's almost unbearably sweet rendition seemed to cast a spell that was only interrupted by the outpouring of audience shouts of Bravo! that ensued. You too may feel that Donizetti could ask for nothing more than Castronovo's tenor voice to bring his near-sacred melody alive."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...More problematic are balances and crispness within the Lyric Opera Chorus, a vital communicator of-and commentator upon-action in "Elixir." The chorus needs to pop, but the tempos are too rigid and slow for that to happen. The sound is, ergo, often unfocused. Chorus master Michael Black does a wonderful job of prepping the chorus but the conductor needs to take it to that next level. That's not happening here."
