Review: Sarasota Opera’s Daughter of the Regiment is a 2022 season must-see

With plenty to worry about in the world around us, the Sarasota Opera brings us a fresh new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s “La Fille du Regiment” ("Daughter of the Regiment"), cast to perfection and with music that lifts the heart and soul. 

The daughter, Marie, is the perfect role for an ingenue soprano with an agile voice. Jessica Sandidge, who first appeared on the Sarasota stage as Musetta in the 2020 “La bohéme” seems born to the role of Marie, head to toe. Every line, interaction and full-out showpiece is an absolute delight. Sandidge has a voice you could listen to all day as she negotiates florid coloratura with great ease up and down her range. Her first act "Chacun le sait” ("Everyone knows it"), sparkled with the soldiers while we felt her pain saying farewell in “l faut partir” ("I must leave you"). 

The infant Marie was adopted by a French regiment when left behind on a battlefield. Now a grown woman closely bonded to her “fathers,” she is charming, rambunctious and sweetly headstrong. Although the French are fighting the Tyroleans, she falls in love with a local, Tonio, when he saves her life. While Marie had previously pledged to only marry a soldier, when it is discovered that she is of aristocratic birth her fate takes a turn.

Tenor William Davenport is the bold Tonio, willing to renounce his country, risk his life and beg for his one true love. He is also handed one of the most difficult arias with no less than nine high C’s in “Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête” ("Ah, my friends, what an exciting day"). He rang them out with determination, landing more surefootedly with each effort. This, along with so much of the score, is glorious music. 

Davenport and Sandridge shared flirtatious energy as they expressed their love in “Depuis l'instant où, dans mes bras” ("Ever since that moment when you fell"). Their voices matched well as each was securely supple.  

This is a comic opera and all the singers are called upon to use their voices and bodies for humorous effect. Baritone Matthew Hanscom’s Sergeant Sulpice and the Marquise of Berkenfield, sung by Lisa Chavez, stole the show not merely with antics, but their complete character portrayals. Not one of the singer-actors in this production leaned on a stereotype. These felt more well-rounded than the usual opera buffa role. 

Chavez, who we heard last season in "Dido and Aeneas," owned the stage and pushed the villagers around as only a haughty grand dame inconvenienced by war could. Her “Pour une femme de mon nom” ("For a lady of my family") showed off an extreme vocal range, but it’s the entire portrayal and stage direction that made this memorable.  

Act two sees Chavez in the music room with Sandridge as Marie, attempting to be a good girl, sings a song. Coaching from the piano bench, Chavez played off Sandridge’s musical wanderings, while Hanscom’s bored Sulpice prodded Marie mischievously. They were brilliant together. 

Throughout the opera, Hanscom added true warmth to Sulpice’s dual role of doting father figure and mischief-maker. He was always good for a smile and a chuckle. Who couldn’t love this mellow-voiced sergeant with a soft spot for Marie as they greeted each other in “Mais, qui vient? Tiens, Marie, notre fille” ("But who is this?").  

Strong supporting characters – Hortensius, steward to the Marquise, and a corporal – were effectively portrayed by studio artists Jake Stamatis and Patrick Scully.  Apprentice Tori Franklin appeared as La Duchesse de Krakenthorp, a role often given to a celebrity supernumerary – famously the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg appeared as the Duchesse in a 2016 Washington Opera production. It is just another humorous turn for an arrogant aristocrat to play off the earthy regimental energy. 

The Sarasota Opera chorus is consistently high quality and it is not surprising that they delivered striking moments, such as the village prayers leaning heavily on the women and a supporting soldiers chorus with considerable stage time. Strong singing and deft stage direction by Mark Freiman blended the chorus into the fabric of the story. 

The icing on the cake of this production was delivered by a beautiful and detailed set design by Steven Kemp. The thatched roof, Tyrolean style cabins, and a bridge by the mill with the forested mountains in the background for the first act contrasted with the well-appointed castle music room with seafoam green walls and doors opening to a garden courtyard. 

All costumes were equally detailed and seemingly authentic to Tyrolean style. I noted the village women’s dirndls and hats. Marie’s soldier uniform stood out and matched Sandridge's form thanks to designer Howard Tsvi Kaplan’s keen eye. 

Conductor Jesse Martin kept the pace up with tempos that might challenge the singers with fast patter, but the orchestra was spot on as usual. Donizetti’s music is melodically beautiful, and he used the orchestra well. An alpine horn solo marked the opening of the first act and the strings played a delightful laendler, an alpine folk dance in three, to open act two.  

Sarasota Opera’s Daughter of the Regiment is a 2022 season must-see.  

‘The Daughter of the Regiment’

By Gaetano Donizetti. Conducted by Jesse Martins, directed by Mark Freiman. Runs Feb. 19-March 18 at the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. 941-328-1300; sarasotaopera.org