What to Expect from La Fille du Régiment

Donizetti’s frothy comedy mixes humor with a rush of melody and notorious vocal challenges. The story concerns a young orphan girl raised by an army regiment as their mascot and begins at the moment of her first stirrings of love. Complications (and comedy) ensue when her true identity is discovered. The action is startlingly simple and unencumbered by intricate subplots, allowing the full charm of the characters and their music to come across in an uninhibited way.

La Fille du Régiment at the Met

The Met’s new production of La Fille du Régiment, directed by Laurent Pelly, in co-production with the Royal Opera House, was a sensation when it premiered at Covent Garden. The Times of London declared it “the yummiest operatic cake of the season.” Critics called opera stars Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez, who also headline in the Met’s Live in HD transmission, “an operatic coupling made in heaven.” Dessay’s astonishing comedic flair and Flórez’s amazing vocal fireworks elevate La Fille du Régiment to the highest realms of comic opera.

The new Metropolitan Opera production of La Fille du Régiment uses revised dialogue, adapted in French by the associate director, Agathe Mélinand. The recordings accompanying this guide and all associated text references come from an earlier production. There will therefore be minor differences between the texts under study and the performance presented in The Met: Live in HD transmission. Essentials of character, setting, mood, and plot remain unchanged.

The synopsis can be found here.