Our Opera Lovers Group met in the afternoon of 27 November 2025 for a performance of ‘La Fanciulla del West’, often translated as ‘The Girl of the Golden West’. Was this really a ‘Western’ story in the best Hollywood tradition? Yes, it was!

The music is amongst the best that Puccini ever wrote for Opera (and that is his own recorded opinion) and whilst there are fewer well known arias than in his other works, the emotion of the piece is carried by his innovative score throughout.

The performance was that given by the Metropolitan Opera, Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of Nicola Luisotti, with Deborah Voigt as Minnie, Marcello Giordani as Dick Johnson/Ramirez and Lucio Gallo as Jack Rance. There are also many minor roles that have their moment.

Minnie runs the local saloon where the all male chorus drink and gamble at cards. But she also teaches a bible class and would love to settle down if only the right man would arrive in town. This duality is a feature that runs through many of the leading roles in the opera. Dick Johnson arrives in town as a stranger who had met Minnie once before, but in fact is the notorious bandit Ramirez who is hoping to find somewhere to settle down if only the law and Wells Fargo would leave him in peace. Jack Rance is the local sheriff in the town, but also an obsessive gambler who cannot say no to any wager.

Minnie falls in love with Dick Johnson, and sees him as the man with whom she can settle down, but Jack Rance believes that Johnson is the bandit Ramirez and wants the Wells Fargo reward for arresting him.

The Metropolitan Opera performance is extremely well done with truly complicated scenery that just works and serves the plot well.

Spoiler Alert: In this Puccini Opera, the female lead does not die at the end!