Juan Diego Florez to sing "La Fille du Regiment" in October in SF; Wins Best DVD

La Fille Du Regiment/DVD/Natalie Dessay/Juan Diego Florez

Dessay and Florez win Best DVD

Juan Diego Florez is a favorite of el primo tenore Pedro Rodelas, who I just featured. No stranger to opera comique Pedro sings the chef at the old English Bracebridge Dinner in Yosemite. So Pedro says he’s going to get tickets to see JD perform at San Francisco Opera in La Fille du Regiment. JD sings Tonio on the DVD; and at SFO in October with Diana Damrau.

Moreover if you are going to see The Audition broadcast by the Met on Sunday, one of the finalists chooses to sing the aria from La Fille du Regiment with nine high Cs, Ah Mes Amis.

Here is JD singing Ah Mes Amis.

Do you see why La Fille du Regiment with JD and fille Natalie Dessay won best DVD from BBC Music this month?

Natalie as Marie seems particularly at home in the part singing in her native French. As is her style, she uses her petite ballerina form for physical comedy. For example by jumping the sergeant Sulpice Pingot performed by Alessandro Corbelli. Natalie hops onto his back for a piggy back moment. Note Corbelli says the comedy comes mainly from the situation not from an actor trying to be funny.

Later Marie leaps into Tonio's arms for the kiss. Again playing an orphan girl as she does in La Sonnambula, and again finding the love of her life in local villager Juan Diego's character, Natalie leaps into JD's arms and wraps her legs around him. The pair kiss front and center stage for a substantial length of time at the end of Act I. Who else in opera can even think of doing this?

As for Natalie's range, remember she sang Donizetti's tragedy Lucia di Lammermoor last summer at SFO.

Renee Fleming interviews the cast, saying this is the role that made Pavarotti the King of the High Cs.

Getting back to the orphan girl raised by an army regiment, Marie is still at the tomboy stage with her Pippi Longstocking cartoon red mop and braid that sticks up in back. Somehow Dessay perfects her awkwardness as a ballerina would know how. If you miss Muriel Maffre you know what I mean. Remember her in that dance competition where she towers above her partner, all arms and legs?

Felicity Palmer sings the role of La Marquise de Berkenfeld who will make a lady out of the little red haired soldier.

Here is the Channel Four piece at Covent Garden.

The set at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden has the childlike scale of that magical set from Italian Girl in Algiers from Santa Fe.

The one with the characters coming out of an oversized book on stage. I saw it eight times at SFO with Bill Burden as the tenor; I met the set designer, the hottest thing out of London, when he was buying an oatcake at Cafe Corbus on Hayes one day. Robert Hopkins is his name, tall and thin with dark hair. I asked the nice stranger if he was going to the opera . . .

In any event. At the end of the act in Algiers the book tries to close on them and they scamper, jumping to the floor and trying to prop it open with their little bodies like something out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Similarly Covent Garden’s set has oversized topo maps covering the ground; cots stand on top and uniform long johns with backdoors hang on a clothesline. Again like Italian Girl in Algiers, the chorus of soldiers appear outfitted in kitchenware, pots for helmets.

Another gem would be Dawn French. If you watch little but KTEH British television on PBS as I do, you know Dawn French as the Vicar of Dibley from the BBC show. In Fille she sings the role of La Duchesse de Crakentorp but watch her physically—she’s how shall I put this, commanding. She opens the double doors in the parlor like Moses parting the Red Sea.

Moreover, pardon her English. (Note she's actually from Wales, where my great grandmother came from--Cardiff).

Watch out when she uses her native tongue in this French production. One of the first phrases out of her mouth, sweetheart don’t be stingy with the chocolate fountains.

After I watched this 132 minute celebration of life I felt fine as a porcupine. I’ll dedicate this article then to Carter who can make me feel the same way for about two days.

If you need your own 132 minutes of Heaven, Jay Stebley who manages the opera shop at San Francisco Opera tells me the shop carries the DVD. He also stocks Dessay's new CD, the bel canto and opera comique La Sonnambula.

Speaking of childlike joy and how music delivers, my friend Kelly Porter has a new website about his organization. AIDAAN personally brings a little joy to seriously ill children by giving the child an iPod. Kelly emails today and one can detect his Texas accent even in his writing (watch for the you all or yall):

This is a very proud day for our organization. We have officially launched the AIDAAN.org website! Many of you have already donated, provided iTunes gift cards, and on and on and on! We can't thank you enough. We would not be where we are today without your kindness and generosity.

We are so happy to share this website with you all!

www.aidaan.org

Please feel free to pass this along to your friends, share with family members, or nominate a special child in need.

We delivered our 10th iPod this week to a special friend named Landry (a 6 year old in Dallas, Texas). Her favorite movie is "Finding Nemo" and her motto is "Just Keep Swimming!"

We hope to touch many more children. Our goal is to help them smile and "just keep swimming!"

La Fille Du Regiment is one of 200 operas available, some in HD, by free trial at www.metplayer.org.

For more info: www.SFOpera.com

The Audtion broadcast from the Met

Natalie Dessay's CD and Jeremy Galyon's debut, believing in the fairy tale

Natalie Dessay CD Part One, ladies do we still want the fairy tale?

Brotherhood and sisterhood, love and peace forevermore

Handel's Wicked Queen comes to Berkeley, Palo Alto, SF: Going for Baroque

Berkeley Opera celebrates with some jewels (part two of three)

Cinderella and Cinderfellas

Berkeley Opera celebrates with bubbly Ruth Ann Swenson and champagne (part one of three)

Tosca Cafe drinks to doomed lovers