La fille du régiment

[Brian Ellis]

I watched Donizetti's comic opera last night on the Arte channel, recorded at Covent Garden, with Natalie Dessay in the title role. It was absolutely superb without a single false note and great spectacle. IMHO, it was far better than the Pavarotti/Sutherland version, which lacked the comic verve that Dessay and Florez were able to give it. It received rave reviews (see the quote below) and, according to the Arte announcer, ran for 70 performances in London, surely a great success for Royal Opera House.

The new production of Donizetti's La Fille du régiment at the Royal Opera House, directed by Laurent Pelly, has created an almost unheard of unanimity of praise from the critics. Tim Ashley in The Guardian (http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/re...989600,00.html )wrote that it "will probably go down in history as one of the company's great achievements" and that neither Natalie Dessay nor Juan Diego Flórez in the leading roles, "one suspects, could ever be bettered". Andrew Clark in the Financial Times also singled out the "scene-stealing character parts for Felicity Palmer, Alessandro Corbelli and Donald Maxwell". Chantal Thomas's "stylish designs" (Anthony Holden in The Observer, http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/o...989835,00.html ) mixed the Napoleonic era story with more up to date elements as can be seen from the photographs below. Bruno Campanella's "expert conducting" was singled out for its "great elegance and charm". The only note of disagreement concerned the decision to have TV star Dawn French play the speaking part of the Duchesse de Crackentorp. The Financial Times reckoned it a "damp squib" although The Times saw it as "the icing on an exceedingly yummy operatic cake". The production continues until February 1, "kill to get a ticket" (The Daily Telegraph).

For Americans, the duo Dessay/Florez will be performing the same opera in New York this autumn and hopefully it will be an equal success.

Unfortunately, I don't think a DVD has been published (yet?). If it is, I can recommend it unhesitatingly.

[Jammrock]

I wonder if this will be one of the broadcast Metropolitan operas...

La Fille du Régiment (new production) – Donizetti
Saturday, April 26, 2008 (1:30 pm – Eastern Time)
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes. 1 intermission

Experience the “exceedingly yummy operatic cake” that was called “the operatic show of the season” by The Times of London when it opened at Covent Garden this past winter. Audiences were dazzled by Natalie Dessay’s fearless coloratura and impeccable comic timing and by Juan Diego Flórez’s remarkable musicality—complete with the famous high Cs. Dessay and Flórez are an “operatic coupling made in heaven” raved the Financial Times. Directed by Laurent Pelly, the production also boasts stage legend and four-time Tony Award® winner Zoe Caldwell as the Duchess of Krakenthorp.

Conductor Marco Armillato; Production Laurent Pelly; Natalie Dessay, Felicity Palmer, Juan Diego Flórez, Alessandro Corbelli, Zoe Caldwell


Nice, it's the final HD broadcast of the season, and showing almost every night in the end of April, early May 2008 at the Met in NYC. The radio and TV (PBS) broadcast season has not been finalized, but it will at least show up on Sirius satellite radio.