[Met Performance] CID:180110
New productions
Cavalleria Rusticana {391}
Pagliacci {430} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/7/1958.
(Debuts: Primo Zambruno, José Quintero, William Starling
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
November 7, 1958
New production
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA {391}
Mascagni-Targioni-Tozzetti/Menasci
Santuzza................Zinka Milanov
Turiddu.................Primo Zambruno [Debut]
Lola....................Rosalind Elias
Alfio...................Cesare Bardelli
Mamma Lucia.............Thelma Votipka
Conductor...............Dimitri Mitropoulos
Director................José Quintero [Debut]
Designer................Rolf Gérard
Cavalleria Rusticana received eighteen performances this season.
New production
PAGLIACCI {430}
Leoncavallo-Leoncavallo
Nedda...................Lucine Amara
Canio...................Mario Del Monaco
Tonio...................Leonard Warren
Silvio..................Mario Sereni
Beppe...................Charles Anthony
Villager................Joseph Folmer
Villager................William Starling [Debut]
Conductor...............Dimitri Mitropoulos
Director................José Quintero
Designer................Rolf Gérard
Pagliacci received eighteen performances this season.
Production a gift of the Metropolitan Opera National Council
Review of Miles Kastendieck in the Journal-American
Met Opera Gainer By New Director
Broadway stage directors do make a difference in operatic performance. If Rudolf Bing has contributed nothing else to Metropolitan Opera, he has changed its course dramatically. Bringing in these men of the theatre has slowly but steadily changed the character of Metropolitan performances.
Jose Quintero is the latest of these to appear. He has been responsible for the stage direction in the new mounting of "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "Pagliacci." For those who have followed opera for years, it is easy to see the results of his coaching, in the actions of opera singers usually inflexible in movement, or just plain hammy. Old timers may not regard this change as important, but the new opera audience thinks it is essential.
Reflects Skill
To be sure, Qiuntero is not completely at home on the operatic stage. In both "Cav" and "Pag" he has obviously not overcome the inhibited use of choruses. It may well be necessary for the modern director to take liberties with the directions in the score if he is to keep abreast of audience demand for credible action. The artificial movement of choruses long ago reached the deplorable stage. It is now absurd. Both courage and imagination are required to make it a part of 20th Century theater.
What Quintero achieved with individual singers reflects his skill. Zinka Milanov moves about much more naturally than she ever has before. For the first time, outside of "Otello," Mario Del Monaco shows some signs of portraying a character instead of being the star tenor. His Canio is a credit both to Quintero and himself.
The most graphic change that Quintero has accomplished is in making Lucine Amara a first-class actress. Her Nedda is now a real person.
With this kind of direction operatic performance gains more than a great many people appreciate. They accept natural movement unconsciously, not recognizing that frequently in stage deportment. The day has certainly arrived when the acting ability of singers must be considered as important as their vocal talents