[Met Performance] CID:136120
Mignon {81} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/4/1943.
(Debut: Patrice Munsel, Donald Dame
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
December 4, 1943
MIGNON {81}
Am. Thomas-Carré/Barbier
Mignon..................Risë Stevens
Wilhelm Meister.........James Melton
Philine.................Patrice Munsel [Debut]
Lothario................Norman Cordon
Frédéric................Lucielle Browning
Laërte..................Donald Dame [Debut]
Jarno...................John Gurney
Dance...................Nina Youskevitch
Dance...................Monna Montes
Dance...................Leon Varkas
Dance...................Alexis Dolinoff
Dance...................Michael Arshansky
Conductor...............Thomas Beecham
Director................Désiré Defrère
Designer................Serge Soudeikine
Choreographer...........Laurent Novikoff
Mignon received ten performances this season.
Review by Virgil Thompson in the New York Herald Tribune:
Of the evening's two debutants Mr. Donald Dame was the more satisfactory all 'round. In fact, his was the most nearly distinguished performance of any in the cast. He sang nicely for the most part and acted convincingly.
Miss Patrice Munsel, though a young woman of phenomenal talents, is far from being prepared for present glory. She has an unschooled voice of wide range and considerable power. In one or two passages it was clear that if she learns how to use it properly before she uses it up she may well have a great singing career later. Whether it remains a high coloratura or develops downward, as many such youthful voices do with maturing womanhood, is unpredictable.
Miss Munsel has a remarkable voice, a good ear and musical intelligence. Her natural gifts are so great that it would be unfortunate indeed if she embarked on a career of public appearances before training had disciplined these gifts and strengthened them to stand the wear and tear of professional exploitation. Miss Munsel seems to be a born trouper, nevertheless. She has confidence, aplomb, personal radiation. Her stage quality, though definitely on the flashy side, is permeated by real temperament. Her dramatic characterization the other evening and her physical movements were as incisive as the timbre of her voice.