Is there nothing she can’t do?
La Cieca is always delighted when a legendary lady of the lyric stage reinvents herself. For example, who ever would have expected Montserrat Caballe to make a comeback as Radames?
But La Cieca shouldn’t be so surprised, after all: I mean, ever since Martha Wash took on the role…
Poor fella, he doesn’t look so much like Caballe (until he moves) as much as Divine in “Polyester”. It’s not fair what they did to his face.
That being said, I don’t actually care so much (to varying degrees) what the singer looks like as long as they can simply… sing! Sure she had bad evenings, I just had one myself, but my goodness what I wouldn’t do to have been able to hear Caballe sing on stage.
I somehow feel that, if a voice is fantastic enough, a simple ‘stand and deliver’ is all you need. Sextet? HELL YES line ‘em up across the proscineum! All of this wonking, writhing, guffawing, and jumping-jack stuff has no place in a Baroque opera. It’s silly.