Random Music

La Fille de Regiment at the Royal Opera House

Last time, in fact the only time, I saw this opera the two leading parts of Tonio and Marie were taken by a young, slim Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland.   It was put on at the Royal Opera House as a show  off vehicle for these two superstars of that time. Both of them had 'a voice', what they lacked in spades was any acting skills whatsoever and I remember their static stand and sing performances which would never be accepted today.  Joan Sutherland's voice was unbelievable, not a note wrong, superb coloratura, rock solid you knew she would never hit a bum note, glorious sound. Pavarotti, in this Donizetti opera was singing with a clear, ringing, pinging tone knocking off the famous high C's in Tonio's act one aria with shattering ease that brought the house down.  No sign then, not just of his future obesity, but of the laziness that characterised his voice as he became more and more the opera superstar, no scooping up to a top note instead of hitting it spot on, no blurring over runs and no endless performance of Nessun Dorma etc etc.  If you think I am being unfair to Luciano, then get hold of an early CD of his and listen to his technique and then listen to a later recording and spot the difference.

Sorry for this long preamble, but this is just to make the point that though I saw these two superstars sing in this opera, in my opinion Juan Diego Florez and Nathalie Dessay knock spots off them. This is an occasion when I do not do what long term opera lovers tend to do and say 'Ah but you should have heard Callas/Tebaldi/Price etc etc' as though the best opera singers are the dead ones or those who sang many years ago.

As Marie, Nathalie Dessay in her dungarees with her pigtail a la Pippi Longstocking is a stroppy delight (one critic likened her performance to half Eliza Doolittle, half Olive Oyl and he is right), tossing off coloratura while running around, lying on the floor, ironing the regiment's shirts or being hoiked up in the air by her regiment.

Juan Diego is simply breathtakingly her equal.  He has such an engaging personality on stage, every member of the audience just knows he is having a wonderful time and loving what he is doing.  The famous Mes Ami act one aria was reeled off as if the high C's were in the middle of his voice, sung with huge panache and sheer joy and, needless to say, the audience went totally barmy at the end shrieking and screaming, me included.   But it is not all show off stuff and in the second Act aria 'pour me rapprocher de Marie' when he is singing of his love he honed his voice right down and sang with such softness, feeling and beauty of tone that my throat closed up, my eyes filled and tears trickled down my cheeks. So heartbreakingly beautiful, I found myself physically clutching my heart. A glance round the house was to see an audience at one and if the proverbial pin had been dropped it would have sounded like a cannon shot.  Long time since I have heard such exquisite singing.   So two wonderful singers and he and Dessay have a wonderful on-stage chemistry which reaches out to everyone watching.

There is a very interesting article in the programme which, incidentally now costs an eye watering £7 (didn't buy I borrowed and read my friend Rosemary's in the interval) about the silliness of the plot of La Fille du Regiment and how similar it is in many ways to the Savoy operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.  Marie was abandoned as a child, found by the regiment who looked after her and brought her up, later on her real mother, an aristocrat (naturally) is found and she is forced to go and live with her and make a good marriage even though she is in love with Tonio who is now quite ineligible.  As in all G&S we have  patter songs, a silly trio, the daft chorus as well as glorious tunes and love duets. 

In the end it all ends happily as in the best comic operas and as well as all the above, we have the Duchess of Crackenthorp, a non-singing role and just sooo G&S, it is unbelievable, and this part was taken by Dawn French who had the audience in hysterics. 

I cannot recall spending such a fun evening at Covent Garden, the sense of oneness we all felt with each other, the complete experience that everyone in the House was having a simply spiffing time, it was an absolutely gorgeous evening and though the cost of our seats, our hotel (we decided to stay overnight) the congestion and parking charges etc etc would probably have paid for a holiday on the Costa del Sol, it was worth every single penny.  

I have said before that though I am now living on a pension and have to watch my pennies more than hitherto, I will never give up the opera even if I have to live on baked beans for a week. The most glorious art form ever, in my humble opinion, one which lives the spirit and the soul.  I love love love love it.

A Good Day at the Box Office

If I receive bad service I am always ready to complain and so, when I receive excellent service I feel I should also make a noise about it so I am going to.

I had sent in a booking form to Covent Garden requesting two tickets for La Fille due Regiment with Juan Diego Florez and Nathalie Dessay and, as I was going with my friend Rosemary who is very arthritic, I requested seats in the Grand Tier where there is a lift and she can manage.  I rang up the main office a few weeks ago to check which side of the Grand Tier I needed as only one is accessible by lift from the main entrance and was told the Left side.  So I duly put this down on the form and heavily underlined this request.

Well, it seems that the lift is on the Right side.  And the reason I know this?  I had a telephone call from the Box Office at the House telling me so.  The gentleman I spoke to was Peter and he endeared himself to me immediately by telling me that I had made a total 'cock up' of the booking as not only had I got the  location wrong, I had sent him an inadequate cheque for the two seats as I had misread the ticket price.  I defended myself stoutly about the mistake in the location by telling him that I had phoned the office a few weeks ago and had spoken to somebody who had told me about the location of the lift, to which he sniffed contemptuously and told me 'well, you obviously spoke to a stage hand..'  Sniggers all around.

To cut a long story short, this Simply Wonderful and Marvellous individual had held onto two tickets for me, the last two for that performance, on the chance that if he rang I would be in and thank goodness I was. So I whipped out my credit card and five minutes later it was all booked.  I called down blessings upon his head and I have now emailed the Opera House to extol the virtues of Peter and to hope that this will do him some good.

Of course, I have to hope that Mr Florez turns up.  There is no guarantee  of course and all opera goers know this, but I was incandescent last year when the performance of Barbiere that I had booked, was the one prformance he cancelled.  Once more the box office came to the rescue after I sent off one of what my daughters call Mum's Rants and all was well.  The evening at Barbiere was sublime and here is a link to my earlier review which was over on Random Jottings.  Cannot wait to see him in Fille so a glorious night out awaits as you can see from this over on YouTube.

And also today, I have managed to get a seat for Bryn in Meistersinger.  Calloo Cally o frabjous day.  OK I now have to eat baked beans for supper for a week or two but I don't care.  I am prepared to go into the red for Mr T but god help him if he cancels.....