dernier cri
“Natalie Dessay … in a fuchsia dress and lace-up high boots, flaming red hair piled high on her head …. swung her arms above her head, stretched, and then literally screamed out what sounded like wild joy and barely bridled lust.” [Santa Fe New Mexican]
So is this from a performance of ‘Lucia’, ‘Manon’, ‘Ariadne’… ‘Nunsense’ perhaps? Could be anything with Dessay.
Why is that dress so hideous? Dessay could look so much sexier. Like in that hot red thing for ‘Sempre libera’ . Laurent Pelly’s production if I’m not mistaken…the hair and dress together constitute such an aesthetic flailure.
For reference, here is the aesthetically pleasing dress:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HDKgsXfkaA
I like the dress. And Dessay rocked this performance, according to reviews. Altho……this is quite a smart move – debuting such a huge role at a tiny house outside of the opera queen-populated cities like NY.
I wish dessay the best with this role, as it appears she will be retiring soon. Didn’t she say violetta would come at the end of her career?
Given the size, but more the threadbare timbre of her voice, I would have thought Violetta to be too much of a role for dessay, although she certainly has proved she has the stamina to make it through roles as difficult i.e. manon, lucia, etc.
It’s an interesting review. I heard from my own source there that she was finding the part vocally uncongenial, particularly Acts II and III. I was also told that she was often inaudible. Who should I believe. Both parties were clearly there and witnessed it, albeit from different perspectives. Hmmmmmm…..
Also, regarding the costume above: Doesn’t it look more like Zerbinetta or Fiakermilli?
She tends to overact, in my opinion, and likes outre stagings, etc., as in the New York Sonnambula.
Well if she was inaudible in Santa Fe….I certainly hope she doesn’t aim for any larger venues with this mountainous role.
If Dessay IS retiring soon, we opera fans/bitches can finally remember what a fascinating and far-reaching career it WAS (from handel to coloratura amazingness to bel canto, with two surgeries).
Her role in Hamlet next season is relatively small….
Anybody have any knowledge of her future plans?
I’m a Dessay fan but I, too, find her acting overdone at times. She’s such a good actress but she often chooses to play “neurotic”. She does it convincingly — she incorporated the coloratura and comedy brillianty as Marie — but I’d love to see her take a much subtler approach. She can be so good when she emphasises stillness.