#philippe talbot

I recently bought the awesome “Le comte Ory” DVD from the Met production in 2011 starring Juan Diego Florez, Joyce DiDonato and Diana Damrau. I loved it, and have already watched it two or three times all the way through, and, um, the last 20 minutes several more times than that. Hotness!! (More about that later.)

My 8-year old watched the first act with me, and wanted to watch more. We got halfway through the second act and it got to be time for bed, and I had hoped that would be that. Of course not. A day or two later kiddo mentioned wanting to see the rest of the thing, and I really wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. So I tried to find a less graphic version, which turned out to be surprisingly difficult. During my search, though, I stumbled across this gem from Paris Opéra-Comique posted earlier this year (see below). 

Ok, these singers aren’t better. Especially the tenor is struggling in some places. But if I hadn’t heard the Met production first, I would have been pretty happy with the female leads. I prefer DiDonato’s Isolier for a few different reasons (more about that below too), but Gaëlle Arquez has a really nice voice that I wouldn’t mind hearing more of. Also, these two really, really kiss. 

But on the other hand Adele here seems quite taken with Ory and waves to him as Isolier all but shoves him and his knights into the secret passage (which is under the bed - because sure, why not). Ragonde gives her the stink eye and she relents, but ultimately, even though she’s been holding hands with Isolier while the two of them have been sharing glances through the gorgeous final chorus, she turns away at the very end. What?! No! What is this? Is it really not a happy ending after all? 

I much prefer the ending of the Met production, even though the kisses is mainly a lot of Isolier’s shoulder being in the way (boooo! We want to see the kisses!)