Speaking of bel canto!
How many operas starting with "Don" can we see?!? Let's find out! Everyone likes the three "main" Donizetti comedies, but does anyone ever stop to think that the man wrote a shit-ton of operas, and therefore there are probably other ones worth seeing? Well, there's also the hilarious domestic violence comedy of Rita, which we should probably just delicately overlook, but other than that...
Well, there's a marquis with two sons, who's kept them very sheltered as they've grown up. However, this hasn't totally worked: his older son, Enrico, is secretly married and not only that, he secretly has an infant son. That level of secrecy must've taken some doing. Regardless, he's freaked out that his dad will explode on finding out, so he enlists the help of his Latin tutor, Don Gregorio. There's also a younger son and and an older maid causing comic confusion. In the end, inevitably, the marquis is reconciled to his son and daughter-in-law's situation, and all is well.
And THAT is what it's about! And delightful, is what it is, also. Additionally. Lots o' really fun, boisterous music, including a bunch of good patter songs. I would venture to say that this is at least better than La fille du régiment; there's certainly no excuse for it not being filmed more. This is a fun production that--as you can perhaps glean from the cover--adds the twist of Gregorio dressing in women's clothing when alone. It seems like a very appropriate character beat, and it allows for extra comedy as other characters' try to hide their identities by doing likewise. Speaking of, there's a fair bit of spoken dialogue here, which I ordinarily wouldn't be fond of, but here it's more engaging than usual, creating the air of a classic farce, and Paolo Bordogna in the title roles proves to be a highly adept comic actor.
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