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If I have been allowed to be a refrain member in any Met opera manufacturing, my first alternative very nicely is likely to be Laurent Pelly’s La Fille du Regiment. Who wouldn’t need to be a saucepan-helmeted townsperson, a bumbling drunken soldier, or a pearl-clutching little outdated girl on this unabashedly lovely comedy a couple of foul-mouthed navy brat and the lads who love her?
Pelly’s manufacturing, which debuted in 2008 and has retained its appears to be like, is directed with precision to supply most whimsy and delight, from the rigorously choreographed refrain scenes to the quite a few visible gags to each stomp, swear and harrumph that comes out of Marie’s potty mouth. Rendered as a mountain panorama product of maps, Chantal Thomas’s units lean into the fantasy; it could be set throughout World Battle One, however that is the lightest of comedies. It’s marvelously entertaining from first to final, even together with the overture, which was exceptionally vigorous below Giacomo Sagripanti’s baton. A notary pops out of a hearth when his providers are required, Tonio rides in on a teeny-tiny tank to get his lady, whereas Sandra Oh—sure, that Sandra Oh—kitted out in a padded posterior and large fan because the Duchess du Krakenthorp, goals little kicks on the maids. No comedic alternative is misplaced and one will get the sense that everybody onstage is having fun with themselves simply as a lot because the viewers is.
Erin Morley’s Marie, whom we meet as she karate-chops laundry into neat squares, is a novel character within the operatic canon: lady however not a female one. She prefers regimental songs to the beautiful airs ladies are anticipated to sing and trousers to clothes, however she will be able to nonetheless sing fabulous bouts of coloratura. In different phrases, she’s an absolute breath of recent air, blowing sturdy from 1840. The boys of the regiment are proper to be enamored.
Morley, a soprano who has been on the high of her recreation for therefore lengthy that it’s straightforward to overlook her genius, delivered an ideal vocal efficiency right here. Each notice was vividly in tune, extremely polished and sung with misleading ease, whilst she soared to the higher limits above the ledger line. Oh and he or she’s additionally humorous, wrenching each little bit of bodily comedy out of her character, from her boyish stroll to her occasional butt scratches. One significantly pleasant second: in a struggle with father determine Sulpice, Morley shut herself behind an invisible door with a cry of “Slam!”
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee was not fairly as good vocally, however his Tonio was no much less lovable than Morley’s Marie. Tonio’s well-known “Ah mes amis,” with its 9 excessive C’s, was sufficiently thrilling—the C’s have been glorious however not easy—however his second aria, the calmer “Pour me rapprocher de Marie,” was a extra underrated showpiece, permitting for a extra relaxed sound to emerge. Brownlee is a natural-born charmer; his dazzling white smile and superb comedic instincts make his Tonio positively effervescent. His closing cost to rescue Marie was met with each laughter and cheers.
Peter Kálman, as Marie’s beloved “papa” Sulpice, had a heat, beneficiant bass-baritone to match his loving, if bumbling, character. He additionally contributed one other working comedian bit by by no means fairly remembering the Marquise de Berkenfield’s title: Birkenstock, is it? Or Birkin Bag? The second-act trio, when Marie, Tonio and Sulpice are lastly reunited, was a excessive level, with all three transferring in choreographed glee.
It’s laborious to say who’s having probably the most enjoyable in Pelly’s manufacturing, however a case might be made for a tie between Susan Graham and Sandra Oh—the Marquise de Berkenfield and the Duchess du Krakenthorp. Every of those dueling dames has her weapons; Graham’s Marquise whaps her servant (Paul Corona, amusing because the lone straight man on this comedy) within the face with an impossibly lengthy fox-fur stole and wields her towering top. Oh’s Krakenthorp has her fan, her padded rear and what appears to be a vaguely erotic fascination with the Marquise’s maids. Every is visibly reveling in her position, as solely first-class artists in hammy bit elements can. I may have watched them face off for no less than one other hour.
Giacomo Sagripanti conducts Donizetti with boundless verve, bringing out its crispness and wit and, with it, the orchestra’s full colours. The three hours merely fly by with Sagripanti on the helm. The Met Opera refrain, all the time good, is phenomenal right here. They stomp and dance with vigor and particularly for the lads of the regiment, every refrain member feels alive and particular person. All of them love their Marie, but it surely’s a testomony each to their talent and to the care with which this manufacturing is directed that we get the sense all of them love her in barely alternative ways. The scene the place they bid her goodbye with hugs and little trinkets was really touching.
The singing is fantastic, the manufacturing is darling and the French accents are of variable high quality. What extra can a man’s lady need? So, escape the drums—there’s just one factor left to sing: Rataplan!
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