That word again; I don’t even know what it means!
“They’re known for their great bods and for breathless blogs written by devoted admirers. Bearers of great pecs and pipes, barihunks like Matthew Worth and Tom Forde are bringing high art to the masses in a universally appealing form. And the dark-haired Gunn, all 6 broadly muscled feet of him, is king of that particular hill…” [Los Angeles Times]
mrmyster — surely any artiste who takes on Amor and Genovieffa deserves this kind of coverage. The production will stand or fall by their contribution.
Yeah, eggsakly!
“How do they juggle work and home life? There was no better way to answer the question, they suggested, then to have me come to dinner with the children, as I did recently. Since it was Veterans Day, a school holiday, there was time to tuck away some of the children’s clutter and put a tablecloth on the wood table in the dining area, to “cover all the Magic Marker scrawls,” Ms. Murphy said. Even though she had rehearsed at the Met that day, and Mr. Murphy had been busy at his City Opera studio, they found time to make braised beef ribs, roasted potatoes and green beans, which the children washed down with impressive quantities of milk. Even their grandfather Don Murphy, retired from an auto dealership in Syracuse, happened to be there for dinner.”
BARF.
Monty,
If you only knew how hard it is to balance a career and a family , you would not be so harsh on those of us who do our best for our spouses and our children. I can only imagine that you have no personal experience that gives you even the slightest understanding of this hard working, dedicated couple.
What career? Yes, Kevin Murphy is a pretty busy guy. But, over the past few seasons, Heidi Grant Murphy has sung a few supporting roles at the Met and a couple of leads in Paris in houses where her husband was on the music staff — and received harshly negative reviews for her efforts. ["The weakest link is Heidi Grant Murphy’s often embarrassingly inaudible Adina, which comes good only at the top of the scale." "Malheureusement Heidi-Grant Murphy n’est même pas correcte, rarement audible (assez laide de timbre, de toute façon), et guère rachetée par une présence scénique très prosaïque."] Otherwise, she does a concert here and there. But it’s not like she’s busy or in demand.
Unless they were unable to master birth control or never learned how to count, the Murphys made a conscious choice to pursue two careers while having four children. They are extremely fortunate that, due to Mrs. Murphy’s early connection with the Met, she is able to command high enough fees that she can afford to work part time, more or less when she feels like it, leaving plenty of time for her to stay at home and give heartfelt interviews about the challenges of being a working mom.
What, are we supposed to give them a medal simply because they haven’t divorced yet?
Brutal. Love it.
Here here, Cieca, you say it so well.
But, jeezl, how did she work such coverage in the
Times? What have the Murphys got on TonyT that
we don’t already know about.
How very droll.
But, darlings, Tony T. IS the Heidi Grant Murphy of opera criticism; they were destined to meet and bond.
I’m really curious about HG Murphy’s career. She ‘s never sung at Covent Garden or Glyndebourne and I have only heard her – and even then barely – at the Met or the Bastille. Has she ever been good? I thought her Ilia on the Levine recording must be the most feeble ever committed to disc. Did she actually sing the role in a Met revival? Someone told me her Sophie always sounded like Minnie Mouse, but I don’t think I have heard it. She was sick the night I was supposed to hear it in Paris and we got a French understudy.
That doesn’t look like the chest of a barihunk, but some kind of twinkish bel canto tenor. Gunn has more hair on his forearms than that guy has on his nipple. lol
Anyway, this has peaked my interest in Gunn. Since I live in LA I might go today. I completely overlooked that DiDonato and Florez are singing as well. There are still some pretty inexpensive seats left (less that $100.00).
I’d go. I saw the dress and may return for a later performance. The production is not entirely there (The director is a little supernumerary-happy) but it’s witty and gets better as it goes along. (It’s the same production that’s on DVD with Florez and Mario Bayo.) Florez is a marvel, DiDonato is superlative, and the Bartolo, Bruno Pratico, gives a lesson in singing Italian Patter while indulging in some truely scenery-chewing antics. Hilarious.
As for Figaro himself, Gunn sang the aria impressively and “Dunque io son” even more so. He was a breezy, at ease Figaro, but he tended to get a little lost among all the mugging. (especially because he was dressed blandly in all white for almost the entire evening.)
No mention of ‘strapping’ however.
Sorry, javier, but the Grammar Goddess mandates “piqued”; if your interest in Gunn were “peaked” it would be, um, detumescent…
That is so retarded. Isn’t “piqued” French or something? Well, I’m American and I’m not going to use it. I refuse. It doesn’t even make sense. Peaked! End of story.
‘Piqued’ presumably comes from the French verb ‘piquer’, ‘to sting’. Sort of makes sense, I would say. Like ‘cheque’
It’s been a verb in the English language since 1669…I’m not quite sure what more you want. If you were to abandon English words that came from other languages, you entire lexicon would consist of “lol, wut, omg, l33t, and haxx0rz”. Sad but true. Perhaps you’d like a side of freedom fries with your ignorance?
Wut? OMG!
It’s not just French that puzzles. We actually had someone write “Here, here” for “Hear, hear” above. Presumably it’s not a typo if it was typed twice.
lol – I rather admire Javier’s refusal to be put down by older and more experienced opera queens
lemme get this straight–using the correct word is “retarded,” while using a malapropism “makes sense”?
What are you guys, the gay grammar teachers from hell? I’m going to start misspelling entyre sintinces just beceause it seams to erk u sow much.
Javier, you really can be exceptionally tedious. If you are being sarcastic, and I really hope most of the time you are, please refine your style to make it clearer.
Also, It is spelled “irk”
That’s not the French spelling or anything either, so you should be able to use it.
I don’t know what sarcasm means. Is it french?
Tom Forde?
Really?
I am so with you on that one. Who the hell is he? A cursory glance on the internet does not reveal him as a “barihunk” in any way.
I am only saying that, though I agree it is not news worthy, it is still not easy in the arts at this moment and the fact that they can provide a roof for their kids and keep paying the bills and are not in divorce court is a good thing for them. They are not hurting anyone, just making a living.
Isn’t this the Gunn Nipple from American Tragedy?
ppppppppppppuhleeeeeeeeeeeeze, this boy is not 6 ft tall. more like 5’10.
He’s not the first guy to lie about his inches, he won’t be the last.
Haha!
One of the many things that showed integrity in the Houston world premiere of BRIEF ENCOUNTER last spring was that, at the dress rehearsal (which I did not attend), the audience supposedly reacted audibly to a bare-chested Gunn. At the premiere (which I did attend), he kept that real estate covered. I don’t know who made the change, him or the director, but I honor them for it.
Much as I like a manly chest (and Gunn’s got one, in my book) that was not the point of the scene, and they were right to see that.
Also, while there is a lot of usually moderate, reasonable talk about Gunn’s voice above (in which I do not include the speculation about his Rossinian squillo by someone who has not heard him sing Figaro), I don’t think that’s the key to his best qualities. He uses his voice — especially in the song literature — with unusual intelligence and sensitivity. He is, after all, a student and protégé of the eminent John Wustman. Neither of them is a fool by any means, and if Nathan Gunn were as ugly as [the name of your bëte noire here] he probably wouldn’t be singing at the Met but would probably have a solid career.
Gunn is not as ripped as he used to be. Age taking its toll I suspect. He used to have great abs but in Chicago last year he did look a “bit flabby.” Of course, he still looked better than anyone in the audience or anyone else on stage.
Let’s face it, Hampson never had much in the way of squillo and he did well out of Figaro at one point in his career, so Alto is not the only person who would disagree with me. It’s just that I think that kind of Rossini needs plenty of ping in the voice. (The mellow-voiced Simon Keenlyside seems to agree with me — he withdrew from the role at Covent Garden earlier this year.) I’d love to have heard someone like Bastianini in the role!