> Look at Sophie's little song about Christmas in Werther.
Also, Je veux vivre 0 Gounod

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! ABSOLUTELY NOT the Gounod Juliette
aria! Juliette is a role comparable to Marguerite in FAUST - i.e., it's for a full lyric
soprano with agilita. That aria is absolutely Atypical of the demands of the role.
Unless you're just singing it for fun, it is totally inappropriate for a soubrette!

A soubrette-leaning-towards-lyric coloratura who has her heart set on Gounod
could look at the title character's "O legere hirondelle" -
- from Gounod's Mireille. Or
she could steer clear of Gounod.

Arias from Offenbach's La Perichole might be ok, except for two things: (1) It's
an operetta, not an opera, and some auditors and academics are snobbish
about that kind of thing; (2) it's a role like Helene in Offenbach's La Belle Helene
that has a low tessitura - which is why both roles are sung by high lyric mezzos
(Frederica von Stade/Susan Graham type mezzos). The range and tessitura is
comparable to that of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Dorabella in Cosi fan
Tutte, lower than that of Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Susanna in Le Nozze, or
Despina in Cosi.

If you don't want to use the OTHER Sophie's aria, "Du gai soleil" -
- from Massenet's Werther
(and if I were a soubrette, I certainly wouldn't - it's a pretty lame little ditty), you
might try:

Marie's aria, "Chacun le sait, chacun le dit" -
- from Donizetti's La fille du
regiment

Therese's aria, "Non monsieur, mon mari!" -
- from Poulenc's Les Mamelles
de Tiresias

L'Amour's aria, "Apprends la volonte des dieux...Soumis au silence" -
- from Gluck's Orphee et
Eurydice


Others are more "obscure":

Zerline's aria, "Quel bonheur" -
- from Auber's Fra Diavolo

Zemire's aria, "La fauvette avec ses petits" -
- from Gretry's Zemire et Azor

Manon's aria, "C'est l'histoire amoureuse" -
- from Auber's Manon Lescaut
(not to be confused with Puccini's)

Zima's aria, "Regnez plaisirs et jeux" -
- from Act IV of Rameau's Les
Indes galantes

Leonore's aria, "Je romps la chaine" -
- from Gretry's L'amant jaloux