Vienna State Opera Orchestra News

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Tonio easily hit his row of high C's and then some. But there was much more to Sunday's "La fille du regiment," at the Vienna State Opera.

There was Natalie Dessay as Marie. Part Popeye, part Orphan Annie as the young girl adopted and raised by a French regiment in Napoleon's time, she laughed, mugged, cried and danced through her part, putting her visual stamp on it like Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland and Jenny Lind did in their day.

And she sang. Oh, how she sang.

This is bel canto opera, and beautiful singing is what Dessay produced, laying down not only dazzling coloratura but also soulful emotion — you could hear a pin drop during her touchingly performed "Il faut partir," as she bids a tearful goodbye to her regiment to reclaim her noble heritage.

While not nearly as endearing a stage presence as Dessay, Juan Diego Florez was an impressive Tonio, the young Tyrollean who joins the regiment to be near his beloved — only to nearly lose her until love triumphs and the two are reunited.

There were of course the show-stopping nine high C's in his aria "Ah! mes amis."

Impeccable — and the usually finicky Vienna audience went wild, stomping and applauding for five minutes before allowing things to proceed. When they did, Florez did not disappoint. His tenor was supple, powerful or tender — and right on, when later high notes lurked.

As the crusty Sergeant Sulpice, Carlos Alvarez was in top form vocally — and visually. Bald, bowlegged big-bellied and with a splendid mustache, he was the epitome of the gruff but kind military father figure. And Janina Baechle as the Marquise who reclaims Marie as her illegitimate daughter also did her role proud, both vocally and dramatically.

Under conductor Yves Abel, the State Opera Orchestra was brassy, sweeping or subtle, as called for by Donizetti's score. The composer called this work his "little opera" — but there was nothing small Sunday about this performance in terms of musicality and stage presence.

And if all this weren't enough, there was Montserrat Caballe as the Duchess.

No she didn't cancel — but she used her role to crack a joke about her reputation for bowing out of performances in the last minute, one of several comic lines she delivered in German, in a bow to the Vienna venue.

And for those in the audience who wondered whether she could still sing at 73, the diva delivered — a comic Swiss folk song not foreseen by Donizetti that nonetheless provided one of the many laughs of the evening.

This co-production with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Met already got rave reviews in London when it premiered there in January. New Yorkers, too, are sure to love it.