1.   The company rushes in a French soprano with minimal box-office appeal.

2.   The other exceptional member of the cast was Natalie Dessay, a petite French soprano with a sizable voice, as the lively trouper Zerbinetta.

3.   Yniold, the boy, was sung by a young French soprano, Gaele Le Roi.

4.   The slim French soprano used vibrato to add vocal texture to her role as a young Japanese woman deeply in love.