LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT

Wow. Yesterday I snagged myself a family circle standing room ticket to see the Met's much-hyped production of Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment/The Daughter of the Regiment and loved it even though I was suffering from a mysterious severe frontache (a backache in my front).

The hype for this production revolves around tenor Juan Diego Flórez’s big and well-polished first act aria "Ah! Mes Amis," in which he hits a set of high Cs with a lot of grace. This drives the audience wild and sometimes results in a rare encore, as was the case on opening night as well as last night. (He might be performing the encores in every other performance, which means that Monday might be the next and last one.)

Just as the attention given to La Fille du Régiment shouldn't overshadow the worthiness of Die Entführung aus dem Serail/The Abduction from the Seraglio (which ends its run tomorrow [Wednesday] evening), the attention given to Flórez's performance shouldn't overshadow the greatness of the rest of the production, which includes very good performances from Felicity Palmer as the Marquise and Alessandro Corbelli as Sulpice. Truly outstanding is this year's Met poster girl, Natalie Dessay. Early this season she convincingly withered under the oppressive weight of the men in Donizetti's powerfully bleak Lucia di Lammermoor; now, in his comic and high-spirited Fille, she sparkles with vitality reflecting the support her character receives from the titular company of soldiers who raised her. In selection after selection, she sings beautifully while pulling off a set of comical routines. She sings! She irons! She stands on a piano bench! She's utterly marvelous!

Directed by Laurent Pelly, this lively production reflects the benefits of excellent casting, appealing staging, and continuity. Coming here following performances in Europe, the principals have settled far enough into their roles that they can have even more fun with them (a frequent Fille-goer told me that each performance here has been different) but not far enough that it's become routine.

See this Fille if you can. If you haven't already gotten tickets, try for standing room by registering online in advance and then clicking on the ticket category that you want as 10am approaches on the day that you want to go; at the same time, phone the box office and see which option (online or phone) becomes available to you first. If you order online, I recommend going for standing room in the family circle, where there's only one row; if you order over the phone, you could try finding out if front-row standing room orchestra is available. Standing room in the family circle is cramped and not great if you're, say, about 5'2 or shorter, but you might be able to reposition yourself one way or another.

ADDENDUM Rush tickets and possibly stand-by tickets might also be available. The last time I checked about Rush [not available on Friday, May 16], it looked like you should get in line by 1 pm at the latest. By now the optimal arrival time might even be earlier.

Here's Dessay in Act II.



Source (3:00)


For comparison's sake, here's a beautiful but less kinetic and more "conventional" version from the great Joan Sutherland. What a dif! (I remember learning about this opera from Sutherland on the children's television series Who's Afraid of Opera?)



Source (3:54)