Tutto Verdi: Un giorno di regno (2010), 7

1h 59min | Drama, Music, Musical | Episode aired 10Sep2012
The rare case of a musical comedy by Verdi. But his second stage work proved a complete fiasco when unveiled at La Scala, Milan, in 1840, and more than half a century was to pass before he attempted a second comedy with his final opera, Falstaff. Today, conversely, Verdi's early melodramma giocoso enjoys increasing popularity thanks to its wellspring of musical ideas and effervescent melodies.
Director: Tiziano Mancini
Conductor: Donato Renzetti
Stars: Guido Loconsolo, Andrea Porta, Anna Caterina Antonacci.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2651886/

Translation: One day of reign.
2nd Verdi opera.
Premiere performance at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1840


Time: 1733
Place: Baron Kelbar's castle near Brest, France

Filmed at Teatro Regio di Parma.

Well, the synopsis writer dodged the issue of summarizing the story, eh? It goes something like this: The heir to the throne of Poland must return home to claim his birthright, but must appear to still be in France to catch his enemies off-guard. So Belfiore pretends to be the prince, and cannot acknowledge his true love (Marchese) when they interact. So she gets miffed, picks a bridegroom and gives Belfiore a deadline. But he must honor his promise to the prince AND help Giulietta marry her beloved instead of the Treasurer that her uncle (Baron Kelbar) arranged for her to wed (she's just chattel to him, after all.) Two weddings end the tale, but are they the right two?

Yeah, that's too long. And the story's a little too complicated for the 2hr length.

The history of this opera is far more interesting than the work itself. Verdi suffered the death of both his infant children and his childhood sweetheart/wife in a short time (less that 2 years), all by unrelated causes. The worst & last blow of his wife's death occurred while he was composing this. He quit and vowed never to compose again, but the impresario who commissioned it insisted he fulfill the contract, so he did.

I don't know if he composed it in sequence, but it seems to start brightly, but gets very melancholy after a while. This performance does not try to make it funnier than it is, but does try to capture what fun there is. Costumes are bright primary colors, but singers don't mug or use comedic vocals much. Let it run 3 times to see if it would draw my attention. It didn't, but the music is very pleasant.

Per the 2012 video introduction, ranking Verdi operas by most-performed worldwide, this is 20th. Among all operas most-performed, 342nd. (another source-less list of the top 100; Operabase Statistics)

Sets: Teatro Regio di Parma (where this was staged) & Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Costumes (Rome), Props (Florence & the 2 teatros above), footwear (Rome), Wigs (Turin)

Unitel, cond. Renzetti; 7