[Met Performance] CID:256060
Dialogues des Carmélites {9} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/1/1979.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 1, 1979
In English
DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES {9}
Blanche de la Force.....Maria Ewing
Madame de Croissy.......Régine Crespin
Madame Lidoine..........Leona Mitchell
Mother Marie............Gwynn Cornell
Sister Constance........Betsy Norden
Mother Jeanne...........Jean Kraft
Sister Mathilde.........Batyah Godfrey Ben-David
Marquis de la Force.....Jerome Hines
Chevalier de la Force...Raymond Gibbs
Chaplain................James Atherton
Thierry.................Nico Castel
Javelinot...............Gene Boucher
First Commissioner......Charles Anthony
Second Commissioner.....Russell Christopher
Jailer..................Philip Booth
Nuns: Barbara Bystrom, Suzanne Der Derian, Mary Fercana,
Ann Florio, Lorraine Keane, Elyssa Lindner, Linda Mays,
Teresa Robinson, Ann Sessions, Constance Webber,
Anna-Marie White
Conductor...............Michel Plasson
Review of Robert Jacobson in Opera News
December and early January at the Met concentrated on revivals with new and familiar faces. Poulenc's "Dialogues of the Carmelites" (seen Jan. 1) proved most welcome, for John Dexter's stunning staging seemed even tauter and more brilliant this time, having solved the problems of the final scene at the guillotine with glowing results, while Michel Plasson's effective conducting explored the work's humanity and drama. Maria Ewing's ever interesting Blanche has now become a magnificent essay of haunting depth, nuance and inner anguish, her lyric mezzo seeming to soar on top, a new-found maturity and depth making her portrayal cherishable. Regine Crespin memorably recreated Madame de Croissy with her chilling death scene. Newcomer Leona Mitchell's rich-hued, radiant, expansive soprano proved ideal for Madame Lidone, a role she played with lovely modesty, simplicity and warmth. Jerome Hines' expert diction and commanding bass made much of the Marquis, while Betsy Norden's Constance, Raymond Gibbs' Chevalier and James Atherton's
Chaplain contributed. The single sour note was sounded by Gwynn Cornell (who had made her debut as Klytämnestra in "Elektra" on the Dec 30 broadcast) as Mother Marie, for she relied on loud high tones, the rest of the voice emerging lean and hoarse, and her portrayal looked as if she had seen one too many women's prison films. Despite this, "Carmelites" remains an extraordinarily moving, human work of
drama and ideas, here played a study of fear in a black void, its idiom more refreshing twenty later than at its premiere, strengthened by the test of time. One rarely spends so meaningful an evening in the theater.