La fille du régiment

As a real opera fan and an aspiring professional singer, I found this Royal Opera House performance of La Fille du Regiment absolutely delightful. I too could have done without Dawn French introducing the opera and her "babbling" is on the irritating and unnecessary side. Aside from that, this is brilliantly done.

I am very fond of the opera and of Donizetti. I do prefer Lucia di Lammermoor and La Favorita when it comes to Donizetti, but La Fille Du Regiment has a lot to love about it. The story is at least engaging with fun comic coincidences, the music with a lot of lyrical charm is fantastic with Tonio's big aria(which I nickname "the aria with the 9 High Cs") standing out and the characters especially the protagonist bring a lot of charm.

This is a delightful production. The costumes are interesting and stylish, likewise with the sets which were constructed like big real maps which set the scene really nicely. The orchestra and conducting are also spot on, very lively and musical, and the camera work and lighting intrigue and don't feel out of place. The entire cast do brilliantly, with nobody I would call weak. Juan Diego Florez exudes star quality and hits those 9 high Cs effortlessly(not an easy thing to do at all because the hardest thing about that aria is the consistency in pitch and volume on all those high notes), while when you know Natalie Dessay is going to be on stage you know it is going to be spectacular AND fun, and with a wondrous colouratura and superb stage presence Dessay's performance is exactly that, just see her ironing the men's smalls while singing or being carried off singing the top note and you know what I mean.

All in all, this is a must. 10/10 Bethany Cox