parterre box

82 comments

• Harry says:

  Reading La Cieca’s stated terms of what we should report when making some particular points(mine was in 1.2.2.12), I now correct the matter and oblige accordingly. Addition: “The cover who went on, at short notice and triumphed, was in fact Lisa Gasteen in a Copley production of Forza del Destino”.

  on February 27, 2010 at 12:12 PM
  • La Cieca says:

    Thank you, Harry.

    on February 27, 2010 at 12:14 PM
• LittleMasterMiles says:

  Surely the covers-versus-replacement-stars issue is one of economics and contractual obligations.

  If cover contracts don’t include language that the cover WILL go on if the announced performer cancels, then of course they have no “right” to go on.

  If covers general come to understand that their chances of going on are far less than hitherto, those who can find real stage work elsewhere will be more likely to take it, the supply of capable covers will diminish, and either cover fees will go up or their quality will go down.

  Scenario 1: If cover fees go up, there has to come a point at which it makes more sense to hire a potential-star cover and actually use him or her if the announced performer cancels, rather than fly in (and pay) another star.

  Scenario 2: If cover quality goes down, the pressure to use replacement stars rather than poor covers goes way up.

  Scenario 3: Put the lousy covers on anyway, and remember how easy it all seemed when you were back in the scene shop.

  Obviously, Scenario 2 is currently ascendant at the Met, but could Scenario 1 be viable? I don’t know. Perhaps the best young talent is already busy getting real experience on other stages.

  on February 27, 2010 at 12:16 PM
  • La Cieca says:

    A special issue at the Met that apparently Gelb felt needed to be addressed was the way covers were contracted, e.g., “cover five performances and sing one.” This led to such a number of nonstarry nights dotted through the calendar that a colleague of JJ’s came up with the general term of “Despo performances,” after the hard-working character actress who stood by (and often went on) for such stars at Lotte Lenya and Hermione Gingold.

    The old system was a tradeoff: you did get fairly strong, competent cover singers, but on the other hand, you had to put “a strong, competent cover singer” on stage to play to a half-empty house of annoyed subscribers most of the time. (Again, to be fair, sometimes — not often — the covers were very good singers whose single performance was the highlight of the run. But, on yet another hand — and La Cieca is beginning to resemble an octopus here — very often that fine unheralded talent didn’t sell any tickets, so built into every run of performances was one night that was a wash. The thinking then apparently was that this writeoff performance was a fair trade for the security of having solid covers in place; i.e., a guarantee against last-minute scrambling, and everyone in the administration office could feel confident going home and turning off his phone.

    I suspect the real sticking point with the old cover system came late in the Volpe era when, due to whatever combination of circumstances, a singer who should have been covering (Francisco Casanova) was given a whole run of Vespri Siciliani, apparently because nobody felt like putting out the effort toward finding a more important artist to take on this big starring role. (The same, I think, was true of that other midget tenor who sang the last couple of runs of Gioconda: he was available, so the search stopped and everyone went home.

    on February 27, 2010 at 12:37 PM
    • richard says:

      OOOOOOOHHH , “Despo performances”, I love it!
      Never heard that one before.

      But Despo got her big moment with a featured role in the musical version of Never On Sunday,
      with Melina Mercuri, “Ilya Darling” as I remember it. I had an aunt that went to see it three times for all the ad libs. (I only went once)

      on February 27, 2010 at 1:20 PM
      • Krunoslav says:

        “Despo performances”- that’s just brilliant. Who came up witfh that, again?

        on February 28, 2010 at 8:41 AM
• javier says:

  John Osborn sounds like he won’t have any problems meeting the challenges of the role.

  on February 27, 2010 at 12:20 PM
• Bluessweet says:

  Not going to touch the “cover” story. Seems like a business decision that will shift with the economy and the availability of singers. The bottom line is that opera is done for profit, not for loss, even if you include the contributions. If it were not so, NYCO, would be in full fig and Baltimore would have an opera company.

  If you want to talk about aging but wonderful Nemorinios, I saw Tagliavini (after they let him back in the US) and he was still one of the best.

  on February 27, 2010 at 1:07 PM
  • rapt says:

    Ditto re Kraus, seen in ’84.

    on February 27, 2010 at 1:20 PM
  • That Guy says:

    But this is the crux of the current problem: opera is a NOT FOR PROFIT business (just ask the IRS). It is still a business so of course the books must balance, but it is not intended to generate a profit.

    The primary goal should always be presenting what is GOOD and not merely what SELLS. Therefore, those in charge need to know what makes the artistic product good, and not merely cast singers for their name recognition.

    I could even forgive a small amount of celebrity entering the equation, but the balance is WAY off. How else can you explain the debacles of recent years in productions such as Turandot and Tosca? I’m referring primarily to vocal issues such as casting singers known to no longer possess even the basic notes required for a role, and reluctance to put on covers, even though they are currently singing at a higher level than the stars or the last-minute-replacement stars.

    on March 1, 2010 at 2:44 AM
• pussinboots says:

  Moving images of Osborn? Well, here’s part of the Puritani he sang in Amsterdam last season. The staging was incredibly uninspired (Arturo gets shot and expires while Elvira sinks into madness again), against the backdrop of walls with braille on them.

  on February 27, 2010 at 5:13 PM
  • Regina delle fate says:

    Yes – a drearissimo production. I saw it in Amsterdam. Osborne was excellent. He sings a lot in Europe these days. It’s quite a chunky voice for Rossini. Apart from Florez most of the best Rossini tenors of the last two decades have been Americans. Bruce Ford must be nearly 60, so it could be that his voice isn’t what it used to be. I haven’t heard him for a few years, but as Armerjaquino says he was wonderful in Mitridate at the Garden. He was also an excellent Ferrando in the first cast of Jonathan Miller\s ROH Cosi fan tutte.

    on February 27, 2010 at 8:32 PM
    • Ercole Farnese says:

      Bruce Ford is 54…

      on February 28, 2010 at 8:08 AM
• Ercole Farnese says:

  Why not grant the covers the right to sing one performance, and charge admission tickets to that performance half the regular price? Such performance may or may not be part of the subscription plan. In Italy big opera houses regularly have “recite fuori abbonamento”.

  on February 27, 2010 at 9:03 PM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  on February 27, 2010 at 9:34 PM
• Luindriel says:

  First of all, here’s a real video of John Osborn:
  

  I saw him in Barbiere in Chicago -- he took over the role of Almaviva after Juan Diego Florez’s famous Fishbone Incident. He was fabulous. I’ve also seen him as the Duke in Rigoletto -- also wonderful. I’m excited to see him at the Met!

  on February 27, 2010 at 11:31 PM
• Nerva Nelli says:

  As always, Harry you’re paiting with a broad brush.

  Nemorino does NOT have to be a hunk, which was the originakl claim. No one is saying he HAS to be an old man or a hugely fat man, but he does NOT have to be a hunk. Read the fucking libretto.

  PERIOD.

  on February 28, 2010 at 12:46 AM
  • Harry says:

    Nor Nerva Nelli….WAS I SAYING THAT, EITHER. All that ‘hunk talk’ pisses me off anyway. Nor do I visualise whether or not some singer is ‘somebody’s else’s steam bath material’ when considering their talent or suitability to fit a role. I was simply reminding though, of the role miscasting that which has taken place from time to time. That being, of very well – over age ‘love sick’ creatures. And those that are so large they would be regarded as the local sad identity..where any credence goes straight out the door. Any problems …with that?

    on February 28, 2010 at 6:00 PM
• iltenoredigrazia says:

  What happened to the student performances that the Met used to offer in the afternoons? Those gave the opportunity to many covers to actually go onstage. (First soprano to sing at the new Met was Beverly Bower as Minnie in a student performance of La Fanciulla del West.)

  As for a cover “system” at the Met, I don’t know what kind of a “system” puts singers onstage without any rehearsals at all or even having seen the sets as is now often claimed. Seems more like pot luck to me.

  on February 28, 2010 at 2:40 PM