[Met Performance] CID:146070
Il Barbiere di Siviglia {213} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/15/1947.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
November 15, 1947
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA {213}
Rossini-Sterbini
Figaro..................Robert Merrill
Rosina..................Patrice Munsel
Count Almaviva..........Felix Knight
Dr. Bartolo.............Salvatore Baccaloni
Don Basilio.............Giacomo Vaghi
Berta...................Thelma Altman
Fiorello................Leslie Chabay
Sergeant................Lodovico Oliviero
Ambrogio................Ludwig Burgstaller
Conductor...............Pietro Cimara
Director................Désiré Defrère
Set designer............Joseph Urban
Il Barbiere di Siviglia received seven performances this season.
[In the Lesson Scene Munsel sang L'inutile precauzione (Cimara).]
Review of Herbert Kupferberg in the Herald Tribune
Robert Merrill Sings His First Figaro at the Met
"Il Barbiere di Siviglia" has so often been a good joke spoiled at the Metropolitan Opera House that its first performance of the season Saturday night offered hopeful signs for the future. Nobody expects much subtlety at the Metropolitan where the humor has to be as broad as the stage, but at least Saturday night there was a good deal of straightforward singing and acting.
Most of the credit for this improvement belongs to Robert Merrill, the Brooklyn barytone, who was singing his first Figaro at the Metropolitan. Mr. Merrill artfully blended rich tones and nimble patter; his voice was warm and sturdy; he ran the show in business-like fashion, and he left most of the humor to Rossini, rather than to the stage direction.
The two other young American singers who had leading roles, Patrice Munsel and Felix Knight, also shunned most of the horseplay of their Italian colleagues. Miss Munsel, who is getting to be an old hand at Rosina, sang with perhaps a bit more assurance than her middle tones warranted, but she didn't overdo her coyness until the last act, when she marred her good performance by chirping her way through the "Zitti, zitti" trio. Felix Knight, who avoided forcing his light voice, was a pleasant Almaviva.
Salvatore Baccaloni and Giacomo Vaghi remained their traditional selves as Bartolo and Basilio -low comedians with low voices. Both sang with such resonance and mastery of the style that it seemed a shame they had to cavort about the stage in so grotesque a manner. Still, they always do.
The only new member of the cast, besides Mr. Merrill, was Leslie Chabay, who sang Fiorello in the first act. Thelma Altman sang her one little aria nicely, which is all that can be asked of the role of Berta. Pietro Cimara, who conducted, was one of the hardest workers in the performance, which was given as a benefit for the New York Chapter of Hadassah.