Opera Scotland

Don Pasquale 1976Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Don Pasquale

Scottish Opera's second Theatre Royal subscription season (1976-77) again consisted of ten varied operas. It opened with a revival of the successful Ebert staging of La bohème. This was followed by Confessions of a Justified Sinner (new in the summer), The Magic Flute, Don Pasquale, Macbeth, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, The Merry Widow, Fidelio, The Rape of Lucretia and Jenůfa.

A revival of Peter Ebert’s modern dress (Rome 1950s dolce vita style) production from 1973 transferred neatly to the stage of the Theatre Royal. It was still dominated by Michael Langdon's irrepressible performance in the title role. The other cast members were company regulars, including a recent recruit, Graham Clark, who took over the lyrical role of Ernesto, with Gordon Sandison as an obviously youthful and dapper Malatesta. Pat Hay had sung a couple of performances in the previous run, and now sang them all. Norman White always played the Notary in this production, except for a couple of performances in 1973, when he had stepped up to the title-role.