Please Mr. Postino

Opera Santa Barbara was on a high note when it performed Mexican composer Daniel Catan‘s Il Postino at the Lobero.

The Spanish language production, based on the charming 1994 film, was conducted by maestro Kostis Protopapas and directed by Crystal Manich, who made her debut with the company three years ago with The Cunning Little Vixen at the Granada.

The opera tells of the real life of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, wonderfully played by Metropolitan Opera veteran Raul Melo, on a small island off the coast of Italy, where he meets the show’s lovelorn postman, sung by tenor Daniel Montenegro, who helps woo his love, soprano Sarah Vautour, ending in their marriage.

Neruda returns from South America to find the mailman following in his footsteps as a dissident author criticizing injustices of the Italian government, meeting a tragic end.

It certainly got my stamp of approval!