Donizetti's
comic opera sparkles like champagne ...With the sense of ease and fun
she brings to her role, Simpson makes a mind-bogglingly difficult part
sound almost easy. Her soprano voice is pure, agile, never shrill, and
sounded as fresh at the beginning of the show as at the end. 
Allbritten’s voice is remarkably warm for a high tenor. His rendition
of Tonio’s Act 2 aria is the emotional high point in an opera
that’s usually long on charm but short on heart.
Shannon Koonce Magee has a bright sound for a mezzo-soprano, and her
over-the-top performance as the Marquise de Berkenfield is just what
the role calls for.
Peter Tuff gives an assured and macho performance as Sergeant Sulpice
while showing off a powerful baritone.
LaCosse wrings about every possible laugh from this piece of fluff,
from the subtle comic timing in the meeting among Sulpice, the Marquise,
and her servant Hortensius to the broad comedy of Marie jousting with
her dance teacher.
Lawrence Leighton Smith’s conducting is amazingly unobtrusive
— which is a high compliment in such a work.
The set — from Opera Carolina — is especially good in Act
2, a villa that’s missing only a girl on a swing to recall one
of Fragonard’s deliciously decadent rococo scenes.
In putting up what may be the finest opera production ever to grace
Armstrong Theater, Opera Theatre of the Rockies demonstrates the amazing
progress it has made in five years... Mark Arnest, The Gazette
