The Daughter of the Regiment - MN Opera

What an absolute joy this opera is! The Daughter of the Regiment is being presented by the Minnesota Opera at The Ordway in St. Paul. It opened this past Saturday night to thunderous applause, and lots of laughter. It is one of the rare operas that is not actually sung all the way through. So if Opera scares you, think of this as a musical in French with some pretty amazing singing!

The story is somewhat simple. The opera opens with an overture during which we see a woman enter with a baby, drop off the baby at the door of a cabin in the woods, and run off. We see two men, part of a French regiment, start to leave the cabin but then they hear the baby cry. 20 years pass and the baby has grown up to be Marie (Vanessa Becerra), the canteen girl for the 21st Regiment of the French Army. Through various circumstances it is revealed that Marie, who has been raised by Sergeant Sulpice (Andrew Wilkowske) and the rest of the Regiment, is the niece of the Marquise of Berkenfield (Margaret Gawrysiak). The Marquise wants to take her back to her castle and get her married off, after she has been trained to fit in with upper society instead of all the army men. Now, the tricky part is that Marie has met and fallen in love (in a moment as happens in Opera) with Tonio (David Portillo). Tonio is not part of the army and so though they are in love, Marie has been promised to marry someone from the Regiment, or at least get the blessings of the full Regiment. Being that Tonio is not even French, this proves to be a bit difficult. However, as love leads the way, Tonio joins the French army...just as Marie is being sent away with the Marquise at the end of Act One. 

Act Two has changed locations to the castle of the Marquise. Marie has been taking lessons in ballet, and voice in order to fit more in the world of the Marquise - and to be married off to the nephew of the Duchess of Krakenthorp (Monét X Change). After agreeing to the wedding contract, the Duchess leaves and the Regiment appears, with Tonio showing that he now has rank in the Regiment. He, Marie, and Sulpice have a lovely trio together, then the time comes for Marie to sign the wedding contract. Marie leaves to get ready, Sulpice with her to try to convince her to follow through, and Tonio returns to the Regiment - which is out on the castle grounds, I believe. All of society enters for the big event, and as this is a comic opera - it has a happy ending. 

I have seen comic opera before but never like this. This is probably the first time I have laughed so much during an opera, and the rest of the audience with right there with me. There is some great physical comedy happening during this show, along with some really gorgeous singing. Becerra as Marie is gorgeous with some glorious bel canto singing, as well as luscious lyrical lines. Portillo as Tonio matches Becerra in looks and voice. They make a great pairing vocally, and it is clear that they are both having a very fun time on stage. One of the highlights of the opera is Tonio's aria in Act One where he sings eight high C's. Portillo did it with ease and sounded fantastic. The interplay between Birkenfeld's valet Hortensius (Jeremiah Sanders), Birkenfeld, and Sulpice was a joy to watch. They all had great timing, and facial expressions as well as truly lovely voices. I think one aspect that brought a younger crowd to the theatre was the casting of Monét X Change. Though a smaller part, only in Act Two, and usually a non-singing role, she brought a great energy on stage, and was perfectly cast in my opinion. She was also given an aria to sing. X Change has a fantastic bass singing voice. She was funny, had a fantastic costume, as well as some great comic drag moments. Overall, this is a really fantastic production and a true joy to experience. 

All photos by Dan Norman. If you want to see Monét X Change, head to the Ordway. You won't be disappointed!