{"id":1596206,"date":"2025-10-29T09:42:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T13:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1596206"},"modified":"2025-10-29T10:20:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:20:34","slug":"comedy-review-la-fille-du-regiment-metropolitan-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2025\/10\/comedy-review-la-fille-du-regiment-metropolitan-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"With Precision and Playfulness, ‘La Fille du Regiment’ Considers Love, Loyalty and the Absurdities of War"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Peter K\u00e1lm\u00e1n as Sulpice and Erin Morley as Marie. Photo: Karen Almond \/ Met Opera<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If I were allowed to be a chorus member in any Met opera production, my first choice very well might be Laurent Pelly\u2019s La Fille du Regiment<\/i>. Who wouldn\u2019t want to be a saucepan-helmeted townsperson, a bumbling drunken soldier, or a pearl-clutching little old lady in this unabashedly adorable comedy about a foul-mouthed military brat and the men who love her?<\/p>\n

Pelly\u2019s production, which debuted in 2008 and has retained its looks, is directed with precision to produce maximum whimsy and delight, from the rigorously choreographed chorus scenes to the numerous visual gags to every stomp, swear and harrumph that comes out of Marie\u2019s potty mouth. Rendered as a mountain landscape made of maps, Chantal Thomas\u2019s sets lean into the fantasy; it may be set during World War One, but this is the lightest of comedies. It is marvelously entertaining from first to last, even including the overture, which was exceptionally lively under Giacomo Sagripanti\u2019s baton. A notary pops out of a fireplace when his services are required, Tonio rides in on a teeny-tiny tank to get his girl, while Sandra Oh\u2014yes, that Sandra Oh\u2014kitted out in a padded posterior and enormous fan as the Duchess du Krakenthorp, aims little kicks at the maids. No comedic opportunity is lost and one gets the sense that everyone onstage is enjoying themselves just as much as the audience is.<\/p>\n

Erin Morley\u2019s Marie, whom we meet as she karate-chops laundry into neat squares, is a unique character in the operatic canon: a good girl but not a feminine one. She prefers regimental songs to the pretty airs women are expected to sing and trousers to dresses, but she can still sing fabulous bouts of coloratura. In other words, she\u2019s an absolute breath of fresh air, blowing strong from 1840. The men of the regiment are right to be enamored.<\/p>\n

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