UPDATE: And now the reactions to Act 2:

“Villazon continued to struggle.  Pushed upper register and passaggio. High notes he seems to accomplish (or in some cases misses) by sheer will of force. Aside from a beautiful legato in the sextet, his voice is very worrisome.  Netrebko has bloomed in this act, acuti seemingly in control, mostly, and beautiful phrasing.   Her duet with Kwiecien was the highlight of a second act that was blessed with many magical moments. Armiliato is expertly following the singer and trying to help them as much as possible. This was an overall splendid second act.”

“Villazon seems to grow stronger by the act and the engagement scene suits Trebs’ voice. Now we await the would be horror of the mad scene…”

“Villazon cracked on the A again but actually powered through it somehow and held it quite long. Then knocked over a couple of extra chairs cuz he was pissed.”

“He struggled mightily but held on to The Note… actually finished it almost strongly.  That was the only glaring flaw — the rest was more of the same.”

9:00 PM: Four of the cher operatives are in contact with La Cieca thus far. To begin with, the announced cast is performing.  The reactions to Act 1:

“Villazon is struggling through his passaggio and upper register. The sound is tight and swallowed. He seemed to warm up slowly but never felt confident in his singing so far. Netrebko is delivering an honest and nuanced performance but suffers from intonation problems. Kwiecien is quite lovely.”

“No cracks so far although some sketchy moments. The people around me seem impressed. The overall impression this far is the same as the other night – and something I never thought I would say about Anna and Rolando -there is no spark, no passion, no real chemistry.”

“My friend says, ‘Yelping and squawking.’ V. half-cracked a note in first duet and held back thereafter. Several ouch moments. She sounds fine.”

“The replacement speculation should come to an end: Villazon and Trebs will appear on the HD telecast. Villazon hammed it up a bit, but sounds recovered. Leave it for others to speculate further, but my novice ears heard only one or two small cracks in the first act.  As for Trebs, god bless her, she simply does not have the ornamentation for the role. Dessay (despite her detractors) could have decorated a Christmas tree with her voice at this point in the opera.”

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