park performance
Simply everyone chimes in today about Monday night’s Met in the Parks recital at Central Park SummerStage. JJ has one take, Anthony Tommasini quite another, and for depth of detail, you need look no further than Our Own Sanford:
What does it mean when the purported star of the show is out sung by the two newcomers? It means that I was at Central Park SummerStage for the first of the Met’s summer parks concerts.
The singers for the evening were Paulo Szot, Lisette Oropesa and Alek Shrader. I have some quibbles with programming choices. For instance, “Finch’han dal vino” seems like a piece of fluff for a recital concert. It’s an extremely difficult aria to bring off well, and unfortunately, Mr Szot didn’t. Rhythmic values were fudged throughout.
This was followed by “La ci darem la mano,” joined by Lisette Oropesa. From the moment she started singing, I knew the evening would be redeemed. Ms. Oropesa got off to a wonderful start; I don’t believe the duet is worth excerpting for a setting such as this, but it didn’t help that Mr. Szot didn’t rise to the occasion.
The first star turn of the evening came with Alek Shrader singing “Il mio tesoro” – beautifully, with accurate coloratura and ardent characterization.
Ms. Oropesa returned for “Ach, ich liebte”, from Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. She’ll be singing Konstanze with Welsh National Opera and she proved tonight that she has it in her voice. Her voice is lovely, and even throughout its range, and proved herself equal to the technical demands of the aria. Her high notes rang out without sounded forced.
Mr. Szot returned to sing “Deh,vieni alla finestra”. He achieved some lovely effects, particularly in the second verse, but he his vowels, to me, sounded too dark and covered, when they needed to be a bit brighter.
Ms. Oropesa and Mr. Shrader returned to sing “Tornami a dir” from Don Pasquale. It seemed to be the perfect music for this lovely evening in the park. It wafts as gently as the breezes. Ms. Oropesa was lovely, her singing well controlled and her trills distinct. Mr Shrader, on the other hand, attempted to sing the entire duet in pure head voice. The balance of the duet was lost because his head voice is the least interesting thing about him. It sounded undersupported and his rather fast and attractive vibrato, so evident in mezzo forte and forte singing, disappeared, leaving him with a nearly straight tone throughout the duet.
Mr. Szot then sang “Come Paride vezzoso”, from L’Elisir. This was better.
“Caro nome” is one of those pieces most opera buffs could hum in their sleep. I never get tired of hearing it, but I was unsure about tonight. An announcement was made before the concert started that rather than sing “The Doll Song” from Hoffmann, she’d be substituting “Quando men vo”. Speculation was that her high notes might have been a little off this evening, but as she did with the Mozart, she proved again that her voice was solidly in place. She is quite young herself, so she was believable as Gilda. The voice is as lyrical as you could want, but her coloratura and acuti were spot on. And the high notes were gorgeous.
Mr. Shrader than sang “Cessa di piu resistere”, Almaviva’s final aria from Barbiere. All the coloratura was solidly sung. His voice is evenly produced from bottom to top. He also cuts a rather handsome figure on stage. I described him last night as looking as if he stepped out of a Tommy Hilfiger ad or should be rowing crew somewhere. One thing I noticed though, is that he seems to sing with a lot of tension in his jaw; his teeth appeared clenched through much of the singing.
The first half closed with another throwaway piece of fluff, “Zitti, zitti, piano, piano” from Barbiere. Surely there are better trios to show off soprano, tenor, and baritone. It was pleasant but unmemorable.
Following the intermission, Mr. Szot sang “Votre toast” from Carmen, and proved once again that he’s an unmemorable and adequate operatic baritone, but could have quite a career on Broadway.
Mr. Shrader than sang what has become his calling card, “Ah! mes amis”, from Fille du Regiment. Glorious singing. His high c’s rang out and the rest of the aria was charmingly sung. Ms. Oropesa next sang the “Quando men vo”. She was adorable, and sang it beautifully.
Next was one of the moments I was most looking forward to, because I was curious what would happen when Mr. Szot had so sing opposite Mr. Shrader in “Au fond du temple saint”, from Bizet’s Pearl Fishers . I thought that Paulo sang this better than anything up to that point, and the Alek had gained a measure of control over his softer singing. They blended rather well together.
The rest of the program was show tunes. Lisette sang a terrific “I could have danced all night”, Mr. Shrader gave us a beautiful “Maria”, including perfectly judged head voice (finally), and Mr. Szot sang “Some Enchanted Evening” and “If Ever I Would Leave You”. He sounded much more at ease in the show tunes.
I so have some quibbles. One, he takes breaths in odd places. For instance, during the final phrase of “Some Enchanted Evening”, he sang “never let her [breath] go”, which destroyed the line and the effect it could have made. And his vowels are so covered that on the occasion when he would allow them to brighten, there was a noticeable difference. His operatic voice might make more of an impression if he allowed that to happen more often.
We had encores, too. Mr. Shrader sang a Neapolitan song quite charmingly and Ms Oropesa sang a lovely and fiery Spanish song, but since neither piece was announced, I can’t tell you what pieces they were. [La Cieca's note: the songs were "La danza" and "Zarzuela."] Mr Szot sang “Besame Mucho”. He’s gorgeous, but for someone trained as a dancer, I don’t think he moves well.
Mr. Oropesa has the makings to be a star. She has a wonderful lyric instrument, but can also sing coloratura (she is currently singing Lucia in New Jersey), and she’s lovely on stage.
Mr. Shrader is an exciting tenor, who can obviously handle Bel Canto and French coloratura tenor roles, so it will be interesting to see what direction he takes.
Mr. Szot is still hot. — Sanford
Let’s see, if memory serves Mr Shrader is singing Albert Herring in Santa Fe, 2010. Not much vocal challenge for him there, but as a singing actor he will have to be very adept. That role takes some ‘doing.’
Paulo Szot sure is still HOT and his fans were swooning on the bleachers! I really want to see/hear Mr. Shrader at the Met and thought he and Ms. Oropesa were fabulous. Thanks JJ, La Cieca and Sir Sanford for your reviews!
p.s. The sound system was annoying!
Saw Ms. Oropesa as Lucia in NJ Opera last Friday night. Too light a voice to sing that rep. She managed all the high notes …skipping only the first high Eb in the Mad Scene. Can’t imagine her singing Constanza…maybe Blondchen. It’s a real soubrette soprano (like Judith Blegen): Gretel/Adina/Despina.
Paulo made a very smart choice by moving to Broadway. He will be able to do whatever he wants there for the rest of his career. He is by no stretch of the imagination a Met singer, or at any other major house. The Met is riding his current PR heat, they may be able to squeeze a Giovanni out of him (doubtful) or even an Escamillo (more doubtful), but the Nose is not a difficult vocal or operatic piece. He won’t be singing standard rep there.
He was a solid City Opera singer when I heard him, and that’s what he’ll remain. His “stage presence” is overrated. He’ll be swallowed by the Met stage. He made a nice impression in a Broadway piece that required little acting and little singing in a small in the round theater.
He may have been the PR star of the evening, but everyone is well aware he has limited gifts for the operatic stage.
Alek Shrader was the winner a couple of years ago in the Met’s Rocky Mountain Regionals (he was also subsequently featured in the Met’s film “The Audition”), and his performance in Denver was head and shoulders above anyone else in the contest. I’m not surprised to see that his career continues apace.
The sound system was EXCEEDINGLY annoying. We we’re only about 2 rows from the stage and I thought my ears were going to be bleed, it was so loud.
I think it remains to be seen how Ms. Oropesa will develop. The Ach Ich Liebte and Caro Nome were both wonderful, as was her encore (Can anyone tell me what the name of her encore was?)
Oh, and I have to say that while Some Enchanted Evening may be Mr Szot’s claim to fame, he ruined the last line for me by taking a breath in the middle of it… “never let her (breath) go”.
Paolo Szot sang Escamillo in Toronto a few years ago. He was good but nothing special. He has a legit operatic baritone but not for the big leagues, which makes his move to Broadway a smart one.
Wow, Tomasini took 11 paragraphs before he finally addressed the performances.
Is it just me or does a piano recital seem wrong, wrong, wrong but a park setting?
Oropesa’s encore was the zarzuela number “De Espana Vengo” from “El Nino Judio”. There are fabulous recordings of this number by Berganza, Caballé and De los Angeles.
Isn’t “The Nose” something of an ensemble piece with no standout vocal roles? Not familiar with it so I need some confirmation. Szot has charm and really could make a dent in the semi-classical song area and French chanson and South American song areas. I think he should gravitate towards a concert and recording career singing a wide variety of traditional song, Broadway, standards and international music. He really could score big. Should try dramatic acting too – I saw him in “South Pacific” and found him totally believable but a little reserved and inhibited.
Sanford–In all fairness, Pinza takes the same breath. Of course, the floated E that follows more than makes up for it.
@9
“Wow, Tomasini took 11 paragraphs before he finally addressed the performances.”
So? He had some other issues he wanted to talk about — namely, will the Met replace live park concerts with video replays. I’d think that concern would get a lot of sympathy around here.
Also, to all those folks who think Szot can look forward to a career on Broadway — what Broadway is that? ‘In the Heights’? ‘Next To Normal’? ‘Wicked’?
Next season’s big “classic” musical revival looks to be ‘Bye Bye Birdie’.
I think the time when a legitimate-type singing voice is welcome on Broadway is pretty much over.
We have no way of knowing when it’s over until *after* the fact, because just about the time when people say it’s over, someone revives something like South Pacific, Kiss Me Kate, or A Little Night Music (coming next season as well). He will, however, have to fight off Brian Stokes Mitchell. Paulo would have been wonderful in Man Of La Mancha, at least vocally.
There’s also a version by, of all people, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. I only know her from Baroque and from what her husband wrote for her.
It’s been about 7 years since Brian Stokes Mitchell appeared in La Mancha — or any other B’way run. It played 9 months and was considered a flop I think. He may know something we don’t.
I admit to forgetting about the return of ‘Night Music’.
Casting Paolo Szot as Frederik would be crazy. But at least it’s the kind of crazy I’d love to hear.
Stokes Mitchell is more than a little bitter that he wasn’t ever really considered for South Pacific.
I haven’t seen him in an operatic performance, but I spent 24 hours in NY in March to catch a matinee of “South Pacific.” I went in absolutely skeptical about what I was about to see, particularly after having heard the recording, on which his singing isn’t impressive. I tell you, I had to wait for the rest of the audience to leave to compose myself after his performance – the singing was exactly what I would have hoped for; he was so natural and compelling on the stage, I couldn’t look elsewhere when he was present; he’s beautiful, which doesn’t hurt. Based on that performance, I would certainly give him the benefit of the doubt, and buy a ticket to one of his operatic performances, even Shostakovich…
Vinginblogger,
I am a singer too and I wonder how the other singers would sound after 8 shows a week.
I believe most opera singers have NO idea
what’s like to perform every day -or two shows -same day??
Besides, Paolo’s mic was screwed at the beginning. They
replaced it after Belcore’s aria.
The guy is a hero for me- oh! And a TONY winner….Always a pleasure for ears and eyes.
AND in musical theater it’s beautiful and expressive to take a breath before the last note. Now you know….
bacioni,
Tytus