Star-crossed Met
Natalie Dessay is out of tonight’s prima of Romeo et Juliette at the Met; Maureen O’Flynn sings (and, incidentally, will go into the annals as the “creator” of the role in this particular production). Dessay is still on the roster for Thursday’s performance.
To do this justice you need more than a stratospheric soprano legere. Way too hefty in a big house like the MET for Natalie?
Poor Dessay, is she ever going to come back or is she going to continue cancelling forever?
Mon dieu! Was this a cancellation or was she replaced?
I am so upset that she is sick!
On another note, I disagree entirely that Natalie could not do it. She has, allegedly, been sounding great in rehearsal. Keep in mind that the role was written for a Sybil Sanderson type, and NOT for a big voice. I think Natalie will shine in this role, because her voice has a sufficient amount of “ping” to carry over the orchestra without pushing.
I plan to see this, and I am anxious for what I think will be a revelation as to what Juliette can be!
I look forward to seeing Dessay in the role…I saw O’Flynnn this evening and BRAVA to her for the last minute save–but it was not a particularly strong performance.
I sure hope Dessay’s replacement was due to a temporary indisposition and nothing else. I look forward to seeing her in the role in February.
I was distressed, but not surprised, to first hear of Mme Dessay’s vocal problems quite some time ago.
I first heard her live (again – no, I don’t live there) at the Albert Hall where she duetted beautifully with Dwayne Croft in their guises as Ophelie and Hamlet.
Warning signs came with her Mozart Recital and the French Aria recital confirmed my fears.
These were realized in her broadcast Olympia from the Met. Yes, the G’s in altissimo were superficially impressive but I kept asking myself “At what cost?” The Gs in question had an almost dramatic soprano quality about them: they were certainly pushed.
Even in the Mozart recital, I was worried about the demands she was asking, albeit for dramatic purposes, of her middle range. There was a glottal and chesty element to some of the middle Fs.
I wonder how much she takes her voice off complete breath support, and onto the throat, to get drama into what is essentially a fairly monochrome voice.
My best wishes are with her and hope that she can finally overcome her problems. She is a singer who deserves a break: a charming presence, a musician and someone that we would be sorry to lose.
I ran into some backstage folks from the Met at the subway after the performance and they said that Dessay was genuinely sick and had not missed rehearsals
“Strapping” is in fashion again, according to the latest review of Mr Thomassini’s of R+J
“Stéphane Degout, in his Met debut, brings a hardy voice and a strapping physique to Mercutio”
Glad to know all is back to normal in the life of Queer reviewing
I don’t see why Natalie Dessay couldn’t sing the part… The question is : will she sing the poison scene, which I think is the most dramatic and that even Angela Gheorghiu doesn’t sing on stage.