[Met Performance] CID:138550
Mignon {91} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/17/1945.
(Debut: Francesca Ludova
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 17, 1945
MIGNON {91}
Am. Thomas-Carré/Barbier
Mignon..................Risë Stevens
Wilhelm Meister.........James Melton
Philine.................Mimi Benzell
Lothario................Ezio Pinza
Frédéric................Lucielle Browning
Laërte..................Donald Dame
Jarno...................John Gurney
Antonio.................Osie Hawkins
Dance...................Marina Svetlova
Dance...................Julia Barashkova
Dance...................Francesca Ludova [Debut]
Dance...................Alexis Dolinoff
Dance...................Leon Varkas
Dance...................Michael Arshansky
Conductor...............Wilfred Pelletier
Director................Désiré Defrère
Designer................Serge Soudeikine
Choreographer...........Laurent Novikoff
Mignon received seven performances this season.
Review of Jerome D. Bohm in the Herald Tribune
Rise Stevens Sings Title Role in "Mignon" at the Metropolitan
Thomas's "Mignon," which received its first presentation of the season at the Metropolitan Opera House last night, is an opera which demands first-rate singing throughout to make it palatable to present-day audiences. There was some good vocalism in evidence from time to time, but the general level of excellence reached was never sufficiently high to make the evening an exhilarating one.
Miss Stevens' Mignon continues to suffer from the blight of Hollywood. Her almost constant mugging of the role divests it of much of the touching sincerity which formerly characterized her assumption thereof, and while she delivered some of her music expressively, notable that of the second scene of Act 2, she never makes the most of her vocal potentialities because of her mouthy production.
The Philine of Miss Benzell, her second import role here, was prettily sung and her florid work in the difficult Polonaise, "Je suis Titania," was clearly articulated and true to pitch, but her voice wants the body and brilliancy essential to a really telling revelation of this frothy music. Her characterization of the worldly coquette had considerable assurance and charm.
Mr. Melton is never very happy with Wilhelm Meister's music and last night his singing, aside from its customary "whiteness," was taut and thin in the upper reaches. Mr. Pinza, too, is not particularly well cast as Lothario, the music of the role demanding greater tonal suavity than he is able to bring to it, and a few of his highest tones were uncertain in intonation. Mr. Dame's Laerte was an amusingly acted but only tolerably well sung impersonation. Some of the best singing was contributed by Miss Browning as Frederic. Mr. Pelletier conducted in pedestrian fashion.