Lookism rears its ugly head
Further proof of the endemic menace of casting singers purely for appearance is this photograph of the dewy juvenile leads in Simon Boccanegra promoting tonight’s Channel 13 telecast of the opera.
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And Placido’s shirtless scene is just an excuse to flaunt that strapping physique.
“I feel husky. Oh, so husky. I feel husky, and dusky, and stro-o-nnggg.”
Is that Amelia and one of her two dads?
But he only knows two roles in the opera, so I say next time, he sings Amelia, and Ghuleghina can sing Simon.
Yeah I don’t understand why lookism is not only allowing Placido to do his thing, but letting Violetta Urmana ruin Verdian singing for a whole generation of people who might have seen their first AIDA at the movies or were unfortunate enough to listen to her Attila. She ain’t fine. If the singing is gonna be bad at least get rid of the ugly bad ones.
tangentially, if you want to avoid “lookism” in opera, you should come to San Francisco. I attended my first ever Faust and have to say that the title character was the least interesting physically, vocally, and musically. Stefano Secco sang all right, but I now know the meaning of “his top notes sounded pinched.” He looked surprisingly like Licitra, actually, except in the face.
Also, the SFO assembles the oldest, shaggiest, exercise-challenged group of soldiers/cowboys/miners I’ve seen all year. And would it kill them to have their costumes fitted? Whether in Trovatore or Faust, they looked like they rolled out of bed, put on their grandfathers’ uniforms, and then shuffled on the double to the opera house.
He looked surprisingly like Licitra, actually, except in the face.
Where then?
In the squat body and the potbelly.
I’m confused. I’ve seen the San Francisco Opera FAUST twice now. Stefano Secco is not very tall, but he isn’t squat. In fact he is rather thin, and he didn’t appear to have a potbelly. Also, did you notice that he made an admirable attempt to sing with French style? Or am I wrong? I was impressed.
Stefano, listen, I did notice that you made an attempt to sing in the French style and I appreciate that. I would pay to see you in Faust again.
Seriously, don’t be confused. “Squat” is a relative term. One man’s “squat” is another man’s “pocket-sized” is another man’s “cub.” It’s subjective.
We might agree or not on whether the potbelly is “too much” or “just right” (again, subjective terms based on one’s preferences and experiences), but I did notice the potbelly. I looked long and hard at Secco as he moved about the stage because I thought the vests the costumer kept putting him in were not entirely flattering. I wanted to determine the nature of the issue. When Secco turned around, I saw that he wasn’t thin (although I wouldn’t call him fat, either). Yes, I did use my binoculars. Now, if Secco is indeed thin, then the costumer should be sent back to school.
I’m not confused. Squat is not a relative term. The OED definition: short and thickset; disproportionately broad or wide; dumpy.
From the fourth row I didn’t see a potbelly.
Can we drop the cuteness and discuss the fact that he attempted to sing in a French manner?
Since different people can interpret dictionary meanings differently, “squat” is a relative term. It’s not like “footlong” means “12 inches.”
Dropping the cuteness, why don’t you start the discussion on French manner? You obviously have something you want to say about it.
Standing next to John Relyea, most tenors are going to look short and squat–everything’s relative.
What most impresses me here, mired, is your ability to sit through Faust (in any production) twice in under two weeks; I’m afraid this one has always eluded me. (Give me Boito or even Berlioz any old day.) In fact, having been tipped by a friend that I would be unable to see Marguerite climb the Stairway to Paradise from my balcony seat, I made my exit early. Three good tunes in Act One (including the tamest bacchanalia music ever written), pleasant socializing at intermission, but the night is still young… (And for what it’s worth, I did like Secco’s singing up to that point, even if he’s short and a bit of a schmiel–that much I think we can all agree on).
SF Guy, Maybe Secco’s height relative to John Relyea is the reason he looked squat to me (from my seat up off the floor). I don’t know how tall he is but he’s certainly the tallest of the lead singers.
I thought he was a good Meph, BTW. Not so infernally evil, but more of a slimy gentleman. But he was my first full-length Meph, so … He was no Tippett, that’s for sure (seen on YouTube), but good for 3 hours 45 min.
Cruz–I presume you mean Lawrence Tibbett (do watch those spellings). By the way, if you want to see a truly squat Faust, check out the Odd Coupling of Sam Ramey and Dennis O’Neill in the SFO video of Boito’s version (my favorite, and also well represented on YouTube).
Sorry, SF Guy. You are ab correct: Tibbett. Wow (in a good way).
Did Ramey ALWAYS perform shirtless?! LOL. Interesting to me, though, is he seems timeless while the costume of Faust clearly dates him to a point in history. No accident, I’m sure, but effective, even on YouTube.
Let me think…I seem to remember an early NYCO Figaro where he kept his shirt on…
SF Guy knows his Tibbett from his Tippett, but not his schlemiel from his schmiel.
Thanks for the correction, but I figure Mr. Schlemiel won’t mind as much as much as Mr. Tibbett would have.
She looks like Eva Marton.
She looks like Madeline Kahn to me.
June Anderson.
Sorry wrong thread. I meant June Anderson looks like the “Fall Guy”.
http://tinyurl.com/yznppet