Dawn French In Royal Opera House Appearance

Actress Dawn French has begun rehearsals at the Royal Opera House for a role in the comic opera by Gaetano Donizetti La Fille du Régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment). This new production by The Royal Opera opens on 11 January 2007 with performances running until 1 February 2007.

La Fille du Régiment is musical delight and showcase for thrilling vocal virtuosity. This exuberant French comedy tells the story of the beautiful Marie who as a baby was found on a battlefield and adopted, not by one soldier but by an entire regiment. When she falls into the arms of Tonio her military fathers are not keen to sanction the marriage. And why is the Marquise de Berkenfeld so suspiciously keen to make a high-society match of her own for Marie? The fun of this exuberant comedy is the dramatic twists and the tuneful music en-route to the happy ending.

Making her debut at The Royal Opera Miss French, playing the role of La Duchesse de Crackentorp, joins a cast of some of opera’s brightest stars, the French soprano Natalie Dessay and the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez, who sing the roles of Marie and Tonio. The role is a non-singing one

La Fille du régiment is rarely staged due to the extremely taxing roles for the lead soprano and tenor. The tenor in particular is expected to sing nine high C’s in succession. The opera was first performed at Covent Garden in 1861 with its most recent performance being in 1967 with Joan Sutherland as Marie and Luciano Pavarotti as Tonio in a production by Sandro Sequi, conducted by Richard Bonynge.

Box office 020 7304 4000 / roh.org.uk.