Opera Pacific Finds Little Joy in ‘Regiment’

Things have been looking up this season at once-beleaguered Opera Pacific. The Orange County company’s latest production, Donizetti’s “Fille du Regiment,” conducted by the redoubtable Richard Bonynge--a longtime authority on this ebullient score--also promised much at Tuesday’s opening night in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Yet, even with Bonynge merrily leading a willing and stylish orchestra in the pit, the first performance lacked the level of joy one associates with “Daughter of the Regiment.” The cast of inexpert Donizettians did not sparkle in ways musical or comedic, the stage direction proved relentlessly conventional and vocal thrills were notably absent.

Don’t blame the composer or, in this case, the conductor; this is a mostly unimaginative revival of an acknowledged showpiece in a pleasant but minimal production--borrowed from Opera Company of Philadelphia.

Stuart Maunder’s stage direction added nothing bright or particularly insightful to the visual pictures; indeed, he placed his chorus and principals in only ordinary and pedestrian configurations. And it was necessity, not cleverness, that found the protagonists, Marie and Tonio, sung by the husband and wife duo of Lynette Tapia and John Osborn, forever standing on the furniture: They are both remarkably short.

Tapia, a Southern Californian who made a good impression in Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Rheims” two years ago at the Music Academy of the West--and since has been singing in international venues--this time impressed with her limitations: a voice of small size and few colors, a one-dimensional stage presence. Her high notes are accurate and fearless, if tiny and monochromatic.

Osborn, who sang so strongly in San Diego Opera’s “Cosi fan Tutte” last month, also showed his limitations here. He excelled in Mozartean soft singing, but his dynamic resources turned out to be less broad than is adequate for Tonio. He certainly had the courage and the high notes for the big aria, yet they lacked both size and ring.

More singers on the rise comprised the rest of the cast. Marion Pratnicki made solid and pretty sounds as the Marquise of Berkenfield and coped nicely with its comedic needs; Howard Bender’s Hortensius supported her deftly. Kristopher Irmiter added a masculine presence and vocal authority to his amiable Sergeant Sulpice. The chorus, again trained by Henry Venanzi, sang lustily and confidently, though it delivered less polish than Bonynge’s game orchestra.

* Opera Pacific presents Donizetti’s “Fille du Regiment,” tonight and Saturday, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, 4 p.m., Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, $28-$131. (800) 34-OPERA.