“Pretty Yende continues to bloom as an artist and demonstrate why she is fulfilling her Cinderella story and in this role she exuded a charismatic energy that is contagious to audiences and that gives her performance great warmth.
Because Laurent Pelly’s production requires so much activity and gymnastics, it is a production that can sometimes hinder the amount of coloratura a singer can give. But not Yende. She not only danced, ironed, pranced and jumped, she gave high notes like not other. She threw off gleaming High Ds that ended first Act and then gave a pair of E Flats in the second act all while lifted in midair. She even interpolated a High F at one point. But while these were impressive feats, what made Yende’s performance compelling was her expressive qualities in her more intimate music.”
“Soprano Pretty Yende creates a delicious contrast between Marie’s tough tomboy exterior and the coloratura girly girl she is inside, stomping around emitting vintage trills, scales and staccati delicate as point d’esprit.”
“The coloratura soprano Pretty Yende was wonderful as Marie, the orphaned baby who was adopted by a French army regiment and raised as their honorary daughter (hence the title). She has become an adored mascot to a roster of surrogate fathers.
She sang with gleaming sound, sparkling runs and lots of sass, as well as a gift for physical comedy.”
New York Times