Daughter of the Regiment

Opera (1840)
Music by Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Jean-François Bayard
Performed in English based on the G. Schirmer, Inc. translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin
Revised for this production by John de los Santos
New English Dialogue by Kirsten Greenidge
Directed by John de los Santos
Conducted by Kelly Kuo
Boston Lyric Opera
Emerson Colonial Theatre
Theater District, Boston
April 24 – May 3, 2026

Set Designer: Liliana Duque Piñeiro; Costume Designer: Oana Botez; Lighting Designer: Reza Behjat; Wig & Makeup Designer: Earon Chew Nealey

With Brenda Rae (Marie), Spencer Britten (Tonio), Kenneth Kellogg (Colonel Sulpice), Sandra Piques Eddy (Widow Birkenfeld), Angela Yam (Hortensia), Neal Ferreira (The Duchess Crakenthorpe), Devon Russo (Corporal)

Marie (Brenda Rae), a young and dashing woman, having been abandoned as a baby to the hands of the regimental leader of an American Revolutionary army regiment, Colonel Sulpice (Kenneth Kellogg), has grown up in the regiment and is beloved by its members. It is 1775 in Boston and revolutionary ferment is well underway. Marie has fallen in love with Tonio (Spencer Britten), a Frenchman who is held suspect by the regiment until, as a way of showing his devotion to Marie, he joins up with it. As a new member of the regiment, Tonio finally gains the confidence of his new comrades.

Meanwhile, the so-called Widow Birkenfeld (Sandra Piques Eddy) has shown up declaring herself as Marie’s long lost aunt, claiming the right to take her away and marry her off in a way the Widow deems appropriate. Marie is hesitant, and the Colonel, the regiment and Tonio are all heartbroken at Marie’s departure, but there is nothing to be done.

It turns out that the Widow Birkenfeld wants to line Marie up via Duchess Crankenthorpe (Neal Ferreira), supposedly a very influential lady, but something is amiss. In the end, Widow Birkenfeld comes clean, the Duchess shows her true colors, and all, as one might expect, turns out well. (See spoilers section for details.)

This delightful production is truly comic, full of lively action and movement, and has an English libretto entertainingly tuned for a Boston audience. Playwright Kirsten Greenidge has added supplemental dialogue, which works very well in bringing to fruition the Boston-tailored libretto.

The staging is lively and delightful throughout. The choreography is nicely conceived and highly entertaining, the costumes are decorative and distinctive and the set, though simple, is clever, eloquent and efficiently suited to a short run. It’s amazing how well the team at BLO puts together these productions which are almost always tight, well-designed and exceedingly well architected for the typical six or so performances over the course of a couple of weeks; it’s quite an accomplishment.

As the Colonel, Kenneth Kellogg offers, from the outset, a robust and convincing basso, notable and penetrating. Though it took Spencer Britten a little time to fill out the textures of his voice, he certainly did so in short order, giving his Tonio a warm and charming appeal. Sandra Piques Eddy is very funny as Widow Birkenfeld, but, as the Duchess, Neal Ferreira really takes the comic cake. He is hilarious. As Birkenfeld’s sidekick, Hortensia, Angela Yam also makes good comic time.

As Marie, Brenda Rae started, as well, with a little vocal thinness, but soon rose to the occasion with full force, delivering, in spades, a stunning coloratura virtuosity. She delivered a lively, funny, and compelling funny performance with exceptional vocal refinement, and a genuine pleasure to hear and to see her perform.

Kelly Kuo leads the wonderful BLO orchestra for this outing, taking over from the frequent director David Angus, and he does a terrific job. The orchestra played exceptionally well – and one always has to remember that this is an orchestra that gathers only periodically for these BLO productions, not almost every night as does a resident opera company. They consistently do a wonderful job, as they did for this performance, with some spot on snare drums, a nice cello solo, and some lovely French Horns notable among all the excellent playing.

Overall: very lively and fun, and the refashioned Boston setting works very well, with good comic acting, excellent singing, and a terrific starring coloratura.

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)