Don Pasquale

It is one of the most famous comedy stories in the world:

Here is the elderly bachelor, intent on preserving his assets, who wants to slip into the role of lover once again. On the other, the young woman who cleverly leads him around by the nose.

In Don Pasquale, Donizetti has skillfully spanned this plot framework: The opera is burlesque, but also timelessly valid as a confrontation between patriarchal desires and youthful self-determination. Director Irina Brook sets the comedy in the present day, leading it rapidly to an over-the-top, candy-colored finale in which laughter is intended - but never just ridicule.

(Source: wiener-staatsoper.at)