A new low in linkbait
“Little did New York City Opera know when they cast Laquita Mitchell in the lead role of ‘La Traviata’ (‘The Fallen Woman’) the significance it would have on the company’s opening performance on Sunday afternoon at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Less than 24 hours after the death of pop-star Whitney Houston, the color-blind casting of Violetta Valery — a woman done in by a combination of good looks, notoriety and ill-advised love — gave the 159-year old opera a jolt of relevance.”
Just love those “swooping” opera songs Verdi wrote.
saw the dress – with the single exception of Powell as Germont, this was a sad, depressing afternoon – the production drab and boring, the direction seemingly non-existent, and the singing (Powell excepted) not at the level of a mediocre MidWestern College production. Mitchell was mind-numbingly awful; there is nothing about this voice or persona that would indicate she could sing Violetta – I can’t imagine why she was cast; I can’t imagine her singing ANY of the arias in an audition situation. Pomeroy a weak, underpitch Alfredo whose Italian “diction” was non-existent. The only entertaining section was the chorus “dancing” the matador chorus – at least there was action on the stage, even though it sounded choppy and ragged (not their fault, as they were running around in groupings while trying to sing). A completely depressing afternoon.