[Met Performance] CID:144810
Boris Godunov {115} Matinee ed. Fair Park Auditorium, Dallas, Texas: 05/3/1947.
(Review)
Dallas, Texas
May 3, 1947 Matinee
In Italian
BORIS GODUNOV {115}
Boris Godunov...........Ezio Pinza
Prince Shuisky..........Alessio De Paolis
Pimen...................Nicola Moscona
Grigory.................Richard Tucker
Marina..................Risė Stevens
Rangoni.................Frank Valentino
Varlaam.................Salvatore Baccaloni
Simpleton...............Anthony Marlowe
Nikitich................Osie Hawkins
Shchelkalov.............Hugh Thompson
Innkeeper...............Claramae Turner
Missail.................Lodovico Oliviero
Officer.................Jerome Hines
Xenia...................Marita Farell
Feodor..................Irene Jordan
Nurse...................Martha Lipton
Khrushchov..............Unknown
Lavitsky................John Baker
Chernikovsky............George Cehanovsky
Boyar in Attendance.....Leslie Chabay
Dance...................Edward Caton
Conductor...............Emil Cooper
Review of Clay Bailey in the Dallas, Texas Times-Herald
Pinza Brilliant in Name Role As "Boris Godunov" Presented
Ezio Pinza, the Metropolitan's great basso-cantante and leading interpreter of the Boris role in his generation, was in superb vocal and dramatic form Saturday afternoon as Moussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" was presented at Fair Park Auditorium.
"Boris Godunov" is a lusty tale in which regicide, remorse, insanity and idiocy are a few of the plot ingredients. Moussorgsky establishes his dramatic concepts on a high plane, combining the personal tribulations of the towering Boris with the immediate destiny of a nation.
Practically everything about the opera is on a similarly expansive scale. Saturday's Dallas heard a star-studded cast of principals, choral work such as is rarely offered on the operatic stage, and staging that was in the best tradition.
In the name role the singing and acting capacities of Ezio Pinza were exerted for the edification of an audience of 4, 357, a turnout again exceeding the regular seating capacity of the auditorium
"Mr. Pinza's remarkable qualities, which lend impressiveness to a role inherently dramatic, made him a suitable symbol in this "national" music drama. His characterization of Boris, a man who cracks gradually but inexorably under the pressure of a searing memory, was a portrayal long to be remembered.
Similarly brilliant in his particular role, that of breaking up the dramatic tensions of an overwhelming story, was Salvatore Baccaloni, the roly poly basso who sang Varlaam, a vagabond. With his fellow mendicant, Lodovico Oliviero, Baccaloni waddled through antics which practically laid them in the aisles.
Enacting Marina, diva Rise Stevens, always a local favorite, was heard with high approval. The Stevens' voice, tending at times to be slightly breathy, still had in all registers warmth of color and appeal.
Veteran Alessio De Paolis, cast as Prince Shuisky, performed his considerable assignment with dramatic competence and a tenor which generally was adequate.
Richard Tucker, Dimitri in the story, came back from a wobbly start to ring the bell in the famous love duet with Rise Stevens, late in the opera.
Nicola Moscona, as Brother Pimen, Osie Hawkins as Nikitich, Anthony Marlowe in the role of the Simpleton, Irene Jordan and Marita Farell as the children of Boris, and Martha Lipton as the nurse were also favorites of an attentive audience.