UTAH OPERA, THE ELIXIR OF LOVE, Capitol Theatre, March 10; additional performances 7:30 p.m. March 12, 14 and 16, 2 p.m. March 18, tickets at 801-355-2787 or www.utahopera.org

There is something wrong when a fairly short two act comic opera feels overly long. But pacing is only one of the problems with Utah Opera’s current production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), which opened Saturday night.

Stage director Crystal Manich tries too hard to make the opera funny with superfluous gags and silly gestures. The comedy needs to come out of the music and not be superimposed on it. But Manich doesn’t get that concept. She thinks her job is to pile on the sight gags to make sure the audience realizes it’s watching a comic opera. It took away from the singing and was distracting and ultimately just plain annoying. Manich doesn’t get the basic premise that less is always more.

Nor apparently does the conductor understand that concept either. Utah Opera chorus master Susanne Sheston is on the podium conducting members of the Utah Symphony and she has no overall idea of how the music should be played. It was a bugler’s holiday in the pit; Sheston let the brass get out of hand and dominate everything. The music was too loud and drowned out the singers, including even the chorus at times. There was absolutely no balance to anything.

Drowning out the chorus might not necessarily be a bad idea if one is dealing with a second rate group. But the Utah Opera Chorus is one of the better choral groups in the state, and with the prominence of the chorus in Elixir that’s exactly the kind of group that is needed. The chorus gave a superb performance and it’s one of the very few highlights in this production.

From left: Aaron Blake, Rod Nelman, Anya Matanovic

Among the soloists, tenor Aaron Blake (Nemorino) has a nice voice and he did a fine job with “Una furtiva lagrima,” but it’s a soft voice that doesn’t carry very well and it isn’t quite mature enough for this role.

Baritone Andrew Wilkowske (Belcore) is also rather weak vocally, as well as being wooden in his movements. But if it’s because he can’t act or because Manich wants it that way is anyone’s guess.

But there are a few vocal stand out performances besides the chorus’. Soprano Anya Matanovic is wonderful as Adina. She has a lovely, lyrical voice that’s well suited for bel canto. She is also a noteworthy actress and played her character convincingly.

The real savior of this production, however, is bass Rod Nelman as the quack doctor Dulcamara who eventually comes to believe his fake elixirs actually work (when he sees the girls of the town fawn over Nemorino, not knowing as they do that Nemorino’s uncle had just died and left him a fortune). This is the funniest part of the opera and Nelman really played it up Saturday. He is an exceptional singer and a notable actor and he is the one who makes this production work.

The story is successfully set in small town America in the early 1900s with the sets and costumes creating a good feel for the period.

Edward Reichel also reviews Utah Opera productions for OPERA magazine.