Donizetti La fille du régiment opera to libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François-Alfred Bayard. Directed 2021 by Luis Ernesto Doñas (assisted by Vanessa Codutti) at the Teatro Donizetti Bergamo. Stars Adriana Bignagni Lesca (La Marquise de Berkenfield), Paolo Bordogna (Sulpice), John Osborn (Tonio), Sara Blanch (Marie), Cristina Bugatty (La Duchesse de Krakenthorp), Haris Andrianos (Hortensius), Adolfo Corrado (Un caporal), and Andrea Civetta (Un paysan). Michele Spotti conducts the Orchestra Donizetti Opera and Coro dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala (Chorus Master Salvo Sgrò); features percussionist Ernesto López Maturell. Set design by Angela Sala (assisted by Denia Gonzalez); costume design by Maykel Martínez; lighting design by Fiammetta Baldisserri (assisted by Emanuele Agliati); choreography by Laura Domingo; playwright was Stefano Simone Pintor. Directed for TV by Matteo Ricchetti; recorded by Rino Trasi and Slilvano Landonio; editing and post production by Rino Trassi. Sung in French. Released 2022, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
This is a co-production of the Fondazione Donizetti Bergamo and the Teatro Lirico National de Cuba. The good guys are an army of Cuban mural painters dressed in primary colors. The villains sport a banner of black and white stars and bars. As an American, I’m a target of this. But that’s OK—I think the Cubans have suffered enough. Mark Pullinger, writing for the October Gramophone (page 98) finds this to be a hoot with good staging, fine singing, tons of high Cs from John Osborn, a wicked new percussion part, and the best use of medical masks seen in Covid-19 era productions. Roger Pines is also enthusiastic about this title in the December 2022 Opera News (pages 53-54) where he notes that Sara Blanch has “the coltishness and the lovability that any good Marie needs.” So if you crave an alternate universe Fille du régiment, this may be what you’ve been hoping for.
Here’s a trailer from Dynamic:
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