Opera Club will screen ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’

The Opera Club will screen Donizetti’s two-act comic opera “The Daughter of the Regiment,” composed in French as “La Fille du Regiment,” on Tuesday, March 21, at 2:30 p.m. (a new start time) in the Learning Center of Clubhouse 3.

Club member Jan Berliner will introduce this delightful tale of youthful love and overcoming unexpected obstacles to get married.

The opera opens with a stirring overture featuring trumpets and drums in a military tone, setting the stage for the 21st Regiment of the French Army to announce its presence and intention to restore peace and order for villagers in the Tyrolean Alps.

A young woman, Marie, enters, telling the military leader that she fell into a precipice while gathering flowers but was caught by a local farm boy, Tonio.

The leader reminds her that, having been found by the 91st Regiment as an orphan on the battlefield, she is destined one day to marry one of them.

When troops show up with Tonio as a suspected spy, Marie defends him for her rescue and he resolves to join the Regiment, as he’s fallen in love with her. It also turns out that Marie is the niece of a wealthy marchioness who secretly harbors a plan to marry her to the son of a duchess.

In Act 2, Marie and Tonio develop a loving bond and, despite the revelation that Marie may actually be the abandoned daughter of the marchioness, the two lovebirds succeed in getting everyone’s approval to marry.

The production is in French with English subtitles. People are invited to wear masks indoors, if desired. No dues or fees are required.

For more information, contact Opera Club President Margaret Gillon at MargaretG@yahoo.com or call her at 562370-3844.

—Sylvan Von Burg