Reviewed by James Karas
Visiting Vienna for the Vienna
State Opera is not an easy or inexpensive task but streaming has made it easier
to get a taste of its productions. La Fille du Regiment was
streamed around the world free of charge on November 7, 2026, and was available
for 72 hours after the live performance.
They used Lauren Pelly’s 2008 co-production with New
York’s Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. It is a superb
production set in World War I by Pelly in place of its original date of 1815.
The production and the performance by the Vienna State
has all the outstanding features of the opera including its outstanding music, an
incredible cast that delivers all the high Cs and beautiful melodies, its
humour and all you want from a comic opera.
Who is the daughter of the regiment? She is Marie, an
orphan who was adopted and raised as its daughter by a Regiment of French
Grenadiers in Tyrol. More importantly, who sings the role in Vienna. Erin
Morley is a slight, athletic soprano who is physically agile and vocally
stunning. She is wearing a casual army uniform and moves around as if she were
a ballerina attached to a rocket. Donizetti provides her with arias, duets and
trios that test her mettle and she performs them all with ease and assurance
without missing a note.
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ERIN MORLEY AND ENSEMBLE. PHOTO (c) Stephan
Brueckler
Marie falls in the highest form of erotic attachment known to mortals: operatic love with Tonio, a Tyrolean youth. He feels the same way but he is from the enemy camp. Tenor Xabier Anduaga makes the perfect Tonio. He is young, handsome, enthusiastic and has a voice that you will not soon forget. Of course, he hits the nine high C’s in “Pour mon âme” with surgical precision and joy but that’s just part of the story. Donizetti loads him up with far more and he provides an astounding vocal and theatrical performance.
The broadly comical character of Sergeant Sulpice is
sung by bass-baritone Peter Kálmán. With a padded stomach to look as if he were nine months pregnant, a nice comic touch. He
performs with gusto as Marie’s friend.
We also have a Marquise of Berkenfield sung Stephanie
Houtzeel, Hortensius her butler sung by Marcus Pelz and the Duchess of
Crakentorp sung by Brigitte Kren. We
need them for a change of scene from the mountains to a posh, paneled palace
and to find a suitable aristocratic origin for Marie. I will not tell you who
her mother is. Yes, Marie and Tonio do end up together but if you could not
figure that out you should stick to TV reality shows.
The set is designed by Chantal Thomas with craggy
mountains in the beginning to (a?) palatial
set for the aristocratic ladies. Beautifully done.
Evelino Pidò conducts the Vienna State Opera Orchestra
and Chorus in superb and enthusiastic performances. The chorus gets extensive
usage, like the main singers, and they
deserve high praise.
Pelly’s production has stood the test of time with
three major opera companies reviving it for eighteen years and still going
strong.
A comment about the audience in Vienna is apropos.
Enthusiastic applause is not unusual in the opera house during a fine
performance. Many times, the audience applauds and yells bravos especially at
the end of a familiar showpiece aria. But this time they showed unabashed and lengthy
appreciation. The ovation after “Pour mon âme” seemed to go on forever with
increasing enthusiasm. Anduaga stood still waiting for the applause to subside so he could
continue with the performance!
__________________
La Fille du Regiment by Gaetano
Donizetti was streamed live from the Vienna State Opera and continues there.
For more information and details visit https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/calendar/
James Karas is the Culture Editor of The Greek Press, Toronto
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