La Fille du Régiment by Gaetano Donizetti San Francisco Opera 18 September 1993 We heard some splendid singing at the War Memorial Opera House tonight, and good thing, because the staging and acting in this opera were dull, combining a weak story with unimaginative staging. Despite a pretty vivacious Marie from Kathleen Battle (she looks great, at least from our seat in The Gods), there was little to commend this except the singing. Characters walked out onto the stage and sang. They walked away. Rarely did they interact; even less frequently did they interact believeably. Battle was in fine voice, bright, pure and very clean. Her high notes were confident and clear and she easily moved through the register. Frank Lapardo sang even better, and commanded two big ovations, one in each act. I was especially impressed with the second-act aria, which he concluded with a very controlled and masterful pianissimo. I was disappointed to see a technique I have bemoaned before, namely the use of a television personality as a slapstick comic. Here it came in the person of Mollie Sugden, a BBC sitcom actress, who hammed it up as the DUchess of Krakenthrop in Act Two. Stupid gages had her looking for some trinkets in her bosum and saying "I know I had both when I came in here..." I was discouraged to hear the audience respond with great enthusiasm to her-first of all, even to her presence (TV means real stars, I guess) and then to the stupid comedy. Perhaps it is relief on the part of people in the audience who really don't understand or enjoy the singing. The sets (San Diego Opera) were almost amateurish, simple backdrops painted in colors not found in nature, that simply hung down and suggested walls, columns, etc. Marie: Kathleen Battle; Tonio: Frank Lapardo; Sulpice: Michel Trempont; Marquise: Felicity Palmer; Conducted by Bruno Campanella; Stage direction: Bruce Donnell