If confirmation is needed that the Metropolitan Opera clientele's longing for a new Luciano Pavarotti is absolutely and officially over, it was supplied by Juan Diego Florez at the Monday night opening of La Fille du Regiment The shiny-as-a-military-button tenor sang Tonio's high-C-stuffed first-act aria "Pour mon ame" to the kind of standing ovation and call for encore to which he's apparently grown accustomed since first starring in London in Laurent Pelly's beautifully and amusingly directed treatment of Donizetti's comic opera.


While tor the extended "Pour mon ame" moment, Florez overshadowed current Met darling Natalie Dessay, there was never much doubt that this production is a s[...]