JUST CALL ME A CURMUDGEON . . . . . . or someone who just takes the art of singing (and ALL THE WORK THAT SINGERS HAVE TO PUT INTO THAT ‘ART’) VERY seriously! I guess I’d call this a precursor of what may become known as the DIANA DAMRAU EFFECT (I/m SURE were going to see more of this . . . until some poor soprano breaks her neck while trying something like this)! Ms. Damrau did cartwheels during her Ah non giunge at the Met last season. She actually MADE all of the high notes (since the cartwheels not WHILE she was going for a High D—which, by the way, this woman misses CRACKS . . . not that anyone seemed to care). Even Damrau, however, brilliant coloratura that she may oftentimes be, was nastily breathy and sloppy . . . undoubtedly, at least partially, because of the choreography she ‘agreed’ to execute. Ms Damrau is enough of a DIVA and house-filling STAR that she can veto something and get away with it . . . if she wants to. Since she DID go along with it, however, I have no sympathy for the diminished recorded legacy she’s left behind in this performance. If you were THERE, GREAT: it may have all made sense and may have given you a REALLY GREAT theatrical experience that will continuously bring you back to opera since the smudged coloratura was probably ‘justified’ by the terribly cute physical goings on! WITH NO VISUAL DOCUMENTATION FOR POSTERITY, however, most people will never know the whole story and will just hear a Coloratura Soprano who sounds as though she is not long for this repertory anymore! Even Natalie Dessay who got the telecast of this opera a season or two back (and who probably has never said no to anything a stage director has asked her) didn’t risk the cartwheels . . . even though she AND Ms. Damrau did do some of their acuti while being perched up in the air by dancing male choristers. Oh my, can you imagine Sutherland being thus-hoisted . . . probably not, but’s also why even at almost 60, Sutherland’s coloratura was CLEANER, BIGGER and, ultimately more thrilling than the others. In her long-ago prime, I’ll bet Dessay could have pulled of the cartwheel while singing a TOTALLY clean and thrilling D. Gruberova/Welting and a bunch of others (then and now) probably could, too . . . but is the physical cuteness of it all worth the cracked High D??????????? Apparently so for some impresarios, opera management folk, stage directors, desperate Divas and some audiences . . . . . . but NOT for me! Now if they CAN actually make the D happen while doing the cartwheel—or any other, off-the-wall physical feat, I will be on my feet screaming louder than ANYBODY ELSE! You know, it’s NOT unlike tennis: If a player is one point away from winning a GRAND SLAM and they go for a low-risk, between-the-legs shot . . . AND THEY MAKE IT, it would be great! The fans of tennis would be cheering forever, the shot would be played over and over on EVERY sports news outlet and the shot (and the risk and the technique behind it) would become legendary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If, however, they go for the shot AND MISS and LOSE THE GRAND SLAM . . . people won’t think it’s cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The player would just be branded, and rightfully so, as an IDIOT! DIVAS (and wannabe DIVAS), PAY ATTENTION!!!!!!!! Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, at least Karita Mattila made her High C (and it was her best one of the evening) as she was doing a split in ACT II of the Met’s recent production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut!
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 16:26:58 +0000
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