Does it matter what opera singers look like?

[amateur51]

Perhaps Strauss and von Hofmannstahl were on to something when Marie Therese reflects on Octavian at the end .. "He will find happiness ... or what men understand by happiness"

[Sir Velo]

Of one thing we can now be sure: with all this furore stirred up, Glyndebourne's finance director will be rubbing his/her hands with glee.

[amateur51]

Of one thing we can now be sure: with all this furore stirred up, Glyndebourne's finance director will be rubbing his/her hands with glee.

Does this person often have cause for despair? I thought most productions there played to full houses.

[amateur51]

... ooh, I don't know ...

Are you having a Fassbaender moment, ferney?

[Richard Tarleton]

I'm not certain that Leontyne Price, Grace Bumbry and Jessye Norman would agree with you completely.

Ams, I was thinking of these very ladies, and Ms Verrett, and the roles they have covered between them. Casting in opera is generally colour-blind, as far as I'm aware, and you don't generally hear critical objections to black Lady Macbeths, Leonoras (any of them), or white Aidas or Otellos come to that

To take a recent example - I don't know the answer to this question, but were objections made to a black Fenton at the ROH?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Are you having a Fassbaender moment, ferney?

How very dare you!





(But I like you.)

[amateur51]

Ams, I was thinking of these very ladies, and Ms Verrett, and the roles they have covered between them. Casting in opera is generally colour-blind, as far as I'm aware, and you don't generally hear critical objections to black Lady Macbeths, Leonoras (any of them), or white Aidas or Otellos come to that

To take a recent example - I don't know the answer to this question, but were objections made to a black Fenton at the ROH?

My apologies RT, I thought you might be saying that these women had it easy as a result of what Marian Anderson went through.

[amateur51]

How very dare you!





(But I like you.)

[Nick Armstrong]

Kate Royal, gyrating — totally naked —

Lord Healey's Law of Holes applies, I feel.

This thread's really gone downhill since I last consulted it this morning

[teamsaint]

This thread's really gone downhill since I last consulted it this morning

That wasn't my interpretation of events,really.

Educational, i would call it.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just caught an interview with Dame Kiri on Today - 7.40, just before the Papers - she is harsh about the critics but thinks the costume and wig are partly to blame and she would have thrown them on the ground and stamped on them if asked to wear them. Recostume her, put her in jodphurs and a pony tail is her advice [though perhaps not jodphurs for the bedroom scene...] She thinks Glyndebourne may have taken their eye off the ball as this has happened around the time of George Christie's death.

Yes - here is the coverage... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27516983

jodphurs for the bedroom scene

Educational, i would call it.

Certainly widened my horizons!

[jean]

.... well I enjoy "bitchy" criticism. And I enjoy much criticism that others may deem "unnecessary". I remain unconvinced that this criticism was fundamentally "sexist".

I give you Denis O'Neil, again. I don't rmember ever seeing him condemned for his lack of height - or any other man, for that matter.

[Mary Chambers]

I give you Denis O'Neil, again. I don't rmember ever seeing him condemned for his lack of height - or any other man, for that matter.

Perhaps not by critics, but definitely by audiences!

[mercia]

is Octavian described in the stage directions ? [I don't know Rosenkavalier]- is he supposed to be masculine-looking ?

[Nick Armstrong]

is Octavian described in the stage directions ? [I don't know Rosenkavalier]- is he supposed to be masculine-looking ?

Don't know but (s)he's clearly supposed to look vaguely credible as a 17 year old lad.