The motley must go on
Salvatore Licitra, who took a nasty spill Tuesday night on the way to a promo event for his new CD, will sing go on and Canio tonight at the Met. The tenor reportedly tore a couple of tendons in his shoulder and will have to wear a sling during Pagliacci. Some of the staging will be altered to accomodate his injury. Fortunately, Licitra’s onstage partner is the cool-headed Patricia Racette, who can be counted on to remember not to grab the arm as the action heats up.
Sirius aside, and all Met talk aside… I will be making my first ever visit to the states in mid November. At the age of 33 I will finally make it to the Met. I’ll be in NYC from mid Nov to mid Dec. What should I see? At the moment, top favourites are Millo as Tosca (to understand what the fuss is about), Danner in Suddenly last Summer, and the new Chorus Line.
However, that’s all starfucking. Who should I see at NYCO, and why? And who are the young Met artists that I need to know about?
*armerjaquino apologises for selfindulgent mememe post*
Can Canio put on his giubba, and do all that effective knife work he does with one arm?
Did anyone else out there hear Gruber sing Tosca on Wed. 11-1. This was the at least the fifth performance of Tosca that I’ve attended at the Met and this was by far the worst ever. Her voice was so shrill and displayed none of the deep warm beauty that one would expect of a fine Tosca! Also, Ms. Gruber acted with all the subtlety of a silent film star. I brought a guest who was new to Opera and I was embarrassed to have to sit with her through the three hour performance. I was quite surprised to hear the house give her a fairly enthusiastic ovation – was this perhaps a case of the “Emperor’s New Clothes?” Cura started out pretty slowly too, but by the time he had to sing his final aria, he was in good enough voice. The orchestra played too loud and much of the singing could not be heard. Overall, this trip into the MET was a gross disappointment (especially considering the cost of our tickets!!!)
BTW, Licitra was really terrific as Canio, when I saw him on 10-26. I had no idea he had slimmed down so beautifully. Even more importantly, his voice has grown so much more beautiful than when I saw him in his Met debut in 2002. Licitra managed to get the Canio’s pain and anger across even with his arm in the sling and his Vesti La Giubba brought tears to my eyes. Bravo Salvatore!