LA FIGLIA DEL REGGIMENTO – DONIZETTI
Presented on Apr 10, 12, 14 at the Gaiety Theatre Dublin and on Apr 18, 21 at the Opera House Cork as part of the Dublin Grand Opera Society’s Spring Season
Maria Clausova – Maria
Ugo Benelli – Tonio
Salvatore Sassu – Sulpizio
Ruth Maher – Marchesa
Peter McBrien – Hortensio
Joan Rooney – Duchessa
Albert Rosen – Conductor
Rocco Spataro – Producer
Listen to this production here:
THE OPERA WAS ALSO GIVEN IN CORK
Ugo Benelli had by now thrilled Gaiety audiences as Nemorino, Ernesto and Almaviva (“Barber of Seville”) and was looking forward to singing the role of Tonio in Donizetti’s “The Daughter of the Regiment” in the spring season of ’78. He had already sung it with success at La Scala where, he told me, he brought his parents along to hear him on the opening night. ‘Lots of high Cs,’ he joked in his typical way, ‘but Ugo can manage them.’ He loved the part and had sung it also with Mirella Freni in her home town of in Italy. Unfortunately, it was soon evident to him as he rehearsed in Dublin that the opera was being under-directed and the soprano singing Maria was unsure of her lines. He admitted that if he had not known his own part already he would have been confused. ‘I felt sad because this had not happened to me before in Dublin. I like rehearsals to be enjoyable.’ Ruth Maher, who was playing the Marchesa, says there were underlying tensions in rehearsals because the soprano playing the daughter of the regiment was either unwell or wasn’t familiar enough with her part. At times it could be embarrassing and it didn’t seem the production was corning together. ‘I’m afraid these tensions were manifested on the opening night, for after Ugo Benelli sang his act one duet with Maria he came off the stage in a rage and banged his clenched fist on a wall and might have injured himself. This, I knew, was out of character for him and I put it down to his frustration. It was such a pity really for as an opera it’s truly delightful and very popular abroad. I can say though that Ugo Benelli sang superbly and probably saved the show from being a disaster.’ Paddy Brennan, a chorus member on the occasion, recalls that the production bordered on the disastrous, partly because the company was being over-extended and there was even uncertainty in the chorus. ‘I do remember the prompter was kept very busy and although Maria Clausova sang well as the daughter she did not seem to know the role well enough so was dramatically weak. I was left with the impression that Ugo Benelli dragged us through the performance.’ When I discussed the production with the tenor and reminded him that at least one critic suggested he over-acted as Tonio, he replied that he probably had but only because the opera was under-directed, so he tried to supply some extra business of his own. ‘I was disappointed as Bill O’Kelly had agreed to put it on for me. For myself, I was satisfied with my singing but I wanted the opera to he a success for everybody else in the cast.’ The critics had a field day and the heading over Mary MacGoris’ piece in the Irish Independent echoed the general reaction : ‘THIS REGIMENT MARCHES INTO TROUBLE.’ When the opera was presented during the week’s season at the Opera House, Cork, the Examiner critic Geraldine Neeson, commented, ‘An easy work to stage, I would have thought but the production last night was untidy with many late entrances, clumsy grouping and on one important occasion, the Marquise of Birkenfeld had to burrow her way through the members of the chorus to reach her position.’
(Extracted from “Love and Music: The Glorious History of the Dublin Grand Opera Society” by Gus Smith, 1998)
Opera in Ireland 