[Met Performance] CID:243680
New Production
Il Trittico {12}
Il Tabarro {16}
Suor Angelica {12}
Gianni Schicchi {76} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/19/1975.
(Debut: Evelyn Mandac
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
December 19, 1975
New Production
IL TRITTICO {12}
IL TABARRO {16}
Puccini-Adami
Giorgetta...............Teresa Kubiak
Luigi...................Harry Theyard
Michele.................Cornell MacNeil
Frugola.................Lili Chookasian
Talpa...................Philip Booth
Tinca...................Charles Anthony
Song Seller.............Jon Garrison
Lover...................Betsy Norden
Lover...................Douglas Ahlstedt
Conductor...............Sixten Ehrling
Production..............Fabrizio Melano
Designer................David Reppa
New Production
SUOR ANGELICA {12}
Puccini-Forzano
Angelica................Gilda Cruz-Romo
Princess................Lili Chookasian
Genovieffa..............Betsy Norden
Osmina..................Mary Fercana
Dolcina.................Ann Florio
Monitor.................Marcia Baldwin
Abbess..................Jean Kraft
Head Mistress...........Batyah Godfrey Ben-David
Nurse...................Cynthia Munzer
Lay Sister..............Maureen Smith
Lay Sister..............Joyce Olson
Novice..................Linda Mays
Novice..................Shinja Kwak
Alms Collector..........Alma Jean Smith
Alms Collector..........Elena Doria
Conductor...............Sixten Ehrling
Production..............Fabrizio Melano
Designer................David Reppa
GIANNI SCHICCHI {76}
Puccini-Forzano
Gianni Schicchi.........Cornell MacNeil
Lauretta................Evelyn Mandac [Debut]
Rinuccio................Raymond Gibbs
Nella...................Betsy Norden
Ciesca..................Marcia Baldwin
Zita....................Lili Chookasian
Gherardo................Charles Anthony
Betto...................Russell Christopher
Marco...................Gene Boucher
Simone..................Raymond Michalski
Gherardino..............Lawrence Klein
Spinelloccio............Edmond Karlsrud
Amantio.................Andrij Dobriansky
Pinellino...............Herman Marcus
Guccio..................Peter Sliker
Buoso Donati............Terry Allen
Conductor...............Sixten Ehrling
Production..............Fabrizio Melano
Designer................David Reppa
Il Trittico received seventeen performances this season.
Productions of Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica a gift of the William Penn Foundation and Mrs. and Mrs. Alan J. Broder
Production of Gianni Schicchi a gift of the Corbett Foundation of Cincinnati
[This was the first performance at the Metropolitan Opera of all three works in Puccini's Il Trittico since 1920.]
Review of Bill Zakariasen in the DAILY NEWS
"Come difficile esser felice."
How hard it is to be happy! The line is from "Il Tabarro," one of Giacomo Puccini's three one-act operas that make up "Il Trittico," which the Metropolitan Friday put together for the first time in 55 years. Though Puccini as one of the most successful composers of all time no artist ever made more out of human misery than he. Even in his solitary comedy "Gianni Schicchi" - also from "Trittico" - the humor is at the expense of a dead body, which is (in the Met production anyway) in full view of the audience for two-thirds of the action.
"Gianni Schicchi" is, however, by far, the most popular of the triptych, and the present production of it was unveiled over a year ago. Its virtues and vices remain constant: David Reppa's set still has Busso Donati's bed and Rinuccio still looks like he's wearing diapers. Fabrizio Melano's staging is all-out slapstick, but at least it's alive.
The performance was a notable improvement in musical manners, however. Ensemble work was clean, and vocally Cornell MacNeil in the title role and Lili Chookasian as Zita were decided gains over their predecessors. MacNeil isn't quite as funny as he could be (his imitation of the dying Busso was positively bel canto) but he was a positive, dominating force in the action, as he was as the jealous sea captain Michele in "Tabarro." Chookasian was likewise splendid as Frugola in that opera and as the Princess in "Suor Angelica."
There was a debut in "Schicchi" - Evelyn Mandac as Lauretta. She sang sweetly, but the role is too small to show much of her considerable talents. Sixten Ehrling's conducting in all three scores didn't possess much of the continuous rubato desirable in Puccini performances, but it was clean throughout, especially successful in rhythmic definition and exposure of orchestral details not often heard. As usual, he was at all times considerate of the voices.
Reppa's new set for "Tabarro" is superb in construction and atmosphere, and Melano's staging here is well-tuned to verismo mood. As Luigi, Harry Theyard has his best Met role so far. It is a part made to order for a singing John Garfield, and that's just how he plays it. Particularly effective was his aria "Hai ben ragione!" a paean of social protest in which Theyard glumly kept his hands in his pockets instead of waving them at the gallery. In small roles, Philip Booth and Charles Anthony were fine.
On the debit side was Teresa Kubiak's Giorgetta - inappropriately harsh in voice and sexless in movement. The taped sounds of the boat whistles were poorly handled - they sounded more like doodling on an electric organ.
I can't say I've ever liked "Suor Angelica' much - the saccharine plot and music always reminded me of a statue of the Blessed Mother with painted toenails - but the performance was often magnificent. Gilda Cruz-Romo scored a personal triumph in the title role, singing and acting to near-perfection.
Reppa's set was functional if not very imaginative, and Melano handled the tricky vision scene at the end with taste. Several of the small roles here and in "Schicchi" were sung by chorus members. All did their colleagues proud, so let's mention them: Joyce Olsen, Maureen Smith, Mary Fercana, Linda Mays, Shinja Kwak, Ann Florio, Elena Doria, Peter Sliker and Herman Marcus.
Review of Alan Rich in New York Magazine
Common practice is to rank "Gianni Schicchi" as the best of the three one-act operas that make up Puccini's "II Trittico" and the inventive wit and charm of this elegant, well-made work cannot be denied. But the Met's new production of all three pieces is especially valuable for its revelation of the high qualities in "II Tabarro."
In no other Puccini is there such immaculate control of time, so keen a blending of tense dramatic action and smaller moments used to set off and enhance that action. As director Fabrizio Melano moves his people around David Reppa's handsome, realistic set, the tawdry little drama of the barge keeper and his errant wife becomes unbearably intense, its resolution genuinely shattering. Not a movement, not a shred of incidental atmosphere, detracts from the onrush of the action.
Overall, the Met has done well by all three works. "Suor Angelica," of course, is hopeless, not only for its embarrassing quotient of febrile sentimentality but more for the lack of music that might make that sentiment attractive. If the work must be done, better to do it as Melano has conceived it: staged, for the most part, with so little extraneous movement that it almost resembles a pictorial oratorio, and with the final "miracle" left to the viewer's imagination.
Significantly, the entire evening is an "in-house" creation, designed and directed by members of the Met's resident staff and conducted by Sixten Ehrling, who is also one of the company's workmen. All in all, the venture has been successful, most of all in revealing the superior intelligence of the company's steady employees. Ehrling's conducting may lack the wit that others have brought to "Schicchi," but his pacing of the other two works, the cumulative power of "Tabarro" and the quiet, simple unfolding of "Angelica" are among the best things he has done in the house. Among the cast, Cornell MacNeil was outstanding as the husband in "Tabarro," although less appealing as "Schicchi;" Gilda Cruz-Romo was a splendid Angelica except in the few moments when her loud singing became somewhat forced; Evelyn Mandac, the one new voice, was a lovely if occasionally inaudible Lauretta in "Schicchi;" Harry Theyard and Teresa Kubiak were a powerful pair of lovers in "Tabarro;" and Lili Chookasian worked in all three operas with gusto.