Donizetti’s masterful comic opera will stir even the hardest heart with its themes of love and loyalty. Marie is a canteen girl for the 21st Regiment of the French army, and the soldiers are all her “fathers.” Marie falls in love with Tonio, a civilian, who joins the Regiment in order to be worthy of her. Their dreams shatter when the Marquise of Berkenfeld arrives, claiming to be Marie’s long-lost aunt and spiriting her away to be married to the Duke of Krackenthorp. With so many conflicting desires, who will win the day?