THE REGIMENT’S DAUGHTER • MUNICH
★★★★☆☆
Photo: Geoffrey Schied
REVIEW THE REGIMENT’S DAUGHTER: STARS ON STAGE LIFT LIGHT OPERA COMEDY
International opera stars and breathless choral movements in outstanding performances adorn Damiano Michieletto’s production of The Daughter of the Regiment at the Staatsoper in Munich, which has Donizetti’s bel canto classic on the programme as part of its 2025 summer festival.
Photo: Geoffrey Schied
The captivating Spanish soprano Serena Sáenz is a delight in the title role as the regiment’s Supergirl and darling, who succeeds throughout with the part’s acrobatic coloratura arias. A role that was performed with equal success last season by the irresistible Pretty Yende.
Of course, expectations are highest for the famous tenor part, where the lovesick Tonio steals the show in his iconic aria, which requires no less than nine high Cs in a matter of minutes, as the young man enlists in the regiment to get close to the beautiful Marie.
PR foto
On stage here in Munich, we have the American super-tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who specialises in bel canto, and it is an experience to hear him perform this feat with such ease, as if it were just another day at the office.
Photo: Geoffrey Schied
Michieletto’s successful staging is cheerful and light. The plot is no bigger than it can be squeezed into a shoebox In this way, The Daughter of the Regiment seems a bit small at this festival, which could easily tolerate a more challenging repertoire.
On the other hand, an operafestival is also about appealing to a broader non -elite audience.
In The Daughter of the Regiment, a first-class cast is a must, and here the Bayerischer Staatsoper delivers impressively in a performance that has been criticised in some media for its silly slapstick romanticisation of military life.
They’d better talk to Donizetti about that!
Paolo Fantin’s set design seems a little understated, with a romantic South Tyrolean forest motif blown up onto a huge backdrop as the only set piece in the entire first act.
Photo: Geoffrey Schied
However, the idea develops positively in the second part of the performance, where the forest becomes a giant painting in the Marquis’ palace, which the entire regiment breaks through from behind with bayonets, dusty footsteps and good workshop humour in the finale, where things must be put in order and the right lovers must be united.
The musical experience is first-class, but perhaps there is just something about the bel canto genre in general that is not really Hot Opera stuff these days, when more complex musical works by Janacek, Wagner and Richard Strauss seem to strike a better chord with the spirit of the times.
Despite the unquestionably skilful artistic craftsmanship, we award four stars from GOT TO SEE THIS to a performance that is sweet but also somewhat unambitious at an opera hotspot like this.
