La sera italiana con musica

Opera is one of those art forms that charms some, bores others. On Saturday night, the Seattle Opera performed its final night of Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale.” Two things made an impression.

One, the Mercer Arts Arena, which is where the operas will be held while the Seattle Center Opera House is being renovated, resembles a barn. The opera house is expected to reopen this coming summer with a new name: Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. It can’t happen too soon.

Two, people who put down television sitcoms conveniently ignore the similarity between sitcoms and classical works such as “Don Pasquale.” Told in the broadest terms possible, the opera is a silly tale about an old lecher who is taught his lesson by his “friend,” Dr. Malatesta (literally “bad head”), his nephew and the widow with whom the nephew is in love. Take away the music, and what you have left resembles a “Brady Bunch” episode.

Still, the music does exist. And it, all by itself, can create the “hmmm factor.” Which means that even if you aren’t an opera fan, there are moments when the right soprano or tenor hits just the right note and all you can do is go “hmmm.” I did that more than once on Saturday.

The Seattle Opera offers two more “hmmm” chances from its 2002-2003 season: Bellini’s “Norma” (Feb. 22 23m, 26, 28; March 1, 5, 7, 8.) and Beethoven’s “Fidelio” (May 3, 4m, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17). Call (800) 426-1619 or e-mail Seattle Opera .