[Met Performance] CID:127750
Mignon {80} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 01/26/1940.
(Debut: Jean Dickenson
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 26, 1940 Matinee
MIGNON {80}
Mignon..................Risë Stevens
Wilhelm Meister.........Armand Tokatyan
Philine.................Jean Dickenson [Debut]
Lothario................Norman Cordon
Frédéric................Helen Olheim
Laërte..................Alessio De Paolis
Jarno...................John Gurney
Antonio.................John Gurney
Dance...................Ruthanna Boris
Conductor...............Wilfred Pelletier
Review signed R. L. in the Herald Tribune
"Mignon" Given At Metropolitan For Vassar Fund
Jean Dickenson Makes Debut In the Role of Philine at Benefit Performance
The matinee of "Mignon" was given yesterday at the Metropolitan Opera House for the benefit of the Vassar Scholarship Fund. In addition to its promotion of a charitable cause, the performance effected Jean Dickenson's Metropolitan debut as Philine.
There was a time when the role was taken by the first coloratura soprano of the company. Certainly the brilliance of Philine's music, when properly sung, and the glamour of her personality, call for a major artist.
In justice to Miss Dickenson, it must be said that she is young, charming, and endowed with a generally pleasing voice. Her deportment on the stage, although lacking in the flexibility which experience alone can bring, betokened yesterday a thorough study of the role's dramatic possibilities. Given time and a less imposing opera house in which to work out her vocal problems, Miss Dickenson might possibly become a successful artist. But the Metropolitan is decidedly not an experimental theater and the new coloratura, though talented, is not the Philine that a Thirty-ninth Street audience has the right to expect.
The remainder of the performance went without much distinction. Miss Stevens in the title role, exercised her customary intelligence, but was in poor voice. Armand Tokatyan, appearing as Wilhelm Meister, often sang to good effect, and his French diction must be ranked among the best in the house. Visually, too, he was an improvement over his immediate predecessor.
An indisposition kept Ezio Pinza from singing Lothario, and his place was taken by Norman Cordon with commendable results. Mr. Cordon's acting was imaginative; vocally, he conveyed much beauty of tone. Since yesterday's performance was only his second in this important role, it is to be expected that certain details, including his French pronunciation, will be bettered in the future.
The orchestra, under Wilfred Pelletier, was coarse and blatant.