The plot is more than faintly ludicrous but the music is Rossini at his most inspired - even when one suspects that he is writing with tongue in cheek.
In fact they did not speak French either, they spoke a sort of fractured German. But this was a great feeling of what we had been used to over the years in watching American movies and, with our tongue in cheek and a bit of a giggle, seeing the adventures of the cavalry arriving.
This way you don’t have to worry about ACUs, licences and doctors’ certificates. It’s tongue in cheek, we don’t take ourselves too seriously yet.