Ridgefield to Screen the Met's LA FILLE DU REGIMENT

Tenor Javier Camarena and soprano Pretty Yende team up for a feast of Bel Canto vocal fireworks -- including the show-stopping tenor aria "Ah! Mes amis," with its nine high Cs-- in an Encore in HD presentation of The Metropolitan Opera production of the comic French opera La Fille Du Regiment on Sunday, March 17 at 12pm at The Ridgefield Playhouse. Alessandro Corbelli and Maurizio Muraro trade off as the comic Sergeant Sulpice, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the outlandish Marquise of Berkenfield. And in an exciting piece of casting, stage and screen icon Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut in the speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp. Enrique Mazzola conducts. This performance is part of Atria Senior Living Classical Series with support from Whistle Stop Bakery and is underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Liz & Steven Goldstone and Sabina & Walter Slavin.

Legendary actress Kathleen Turner has given unforgettable on-screen performances in Body Heat, Prizzi's Honor, The Accidental Tourist, and Peggy Sue Got Married, among many others, and her stage portrayals of Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? have earned her a pair of Tony nominations (in addition to her Oscar nod and pair of Golden Globe wins). But for all the range and variety of her singular career, Kathleen Turner has never done opera. That's set to change when she takes on the comic speaking role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp in the revival of Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment.

The plot of Gaetano Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment centers on Marie, found on a battlefield as a baby, and raised by the entire 21st Regiment as their 'daughter.' Her foster-father Sulpice has decreed that she should marry a soldier from the Regiment. When Marie Falls for the Tyrolean Tonio, it looks as though she may have to choose between her family and true love. The situation becomes still more fraught when the haughty Marquise de Berkenfield arrives on the scene. She discovers that Marie is her niece, and insists on taking her away to bring her up as a lady. Tonio, who has joined the Regiment in order to marry Marie, is in despair. So is Marie, and matters get worse in her new home: she hates ladylike pursuits and is horrified to learn that she must make an aristocratic marriage. Can she get out of it without losing her aunt's affection? And will she ever see Tonio again? Yes, if the 21st Regiment has anything to do with it...

The Metropolitan Opera is a vibrant home for the most creative and talented singers, conductors, composers, musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers from around the world. The Ridgefield Playhouse offers free tickets to The Metropolitan Opera in HD series to students 18 and younger as a way for parents to introduce their children to the arts. FREE tickets are also available to students 18 and younger for live and encore HD screenings of The Bolshoi Ballet and National Theatre of London.

For tickets ($25 | Members & Seniors $20 | Students $15 | FREE for students 18 and under) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.