[Met Performance] CID:333027
Turandot {211} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/4/2000.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
October 4, 2000
TURANDOT [211]
Turandot................Adrienne Dugger
Calàf...................Richard Margison
Liù.....................Cristina Gallardo-Domâs
Timur...................Paul Plishka
Ping....................Earle Patriarco
Pang....................Michael Forest
Pong....................Richard Fracker
Emperor Altoum..........Charles Anthony
Mandarin................James Courtney
Maid....................Elaine Young
Maid....................Linda Mays
Prince of Persia........Sasha Semin
Executioner.............Jason Kuschner
Three Masks: José Bercero, Marcus Bugler, Joseph Fritz
Temptresses: Rachel Schuette, Suzanne Laurence, Linda Gelinas, Deanne Lay
Conductor...............Marco Armiliato
Production..............Franco Zeffirelli
Set designer............Franco Zeffirelli
Costume designer........Anna Anni
Costume designer........Dada Saligeri
Lighting designer.......Gil Wechsler
Choreography and
Stylized Movement.......Chiang Ching
Stage Director..........David Kneuss
Review of Alex Ross in The New Yorker
Earlier this month, Adrienne Dugger a native of Atlanta, Georgia, stood in front of the curtain of the Metropolitan Opera with a huge grin on her face. It was not the compulsive smile of a diva who needs to wring a few more seconds of applause from her fans. Instead, it was the unbelieving smile of a woman who has come through danger intact. Dugger had stepped in on short notice to sing the lead in Puccini's "Turandot," one of the most taxing roles in the soprano repertory. At first, her voice sounded unsteady, especially in those cruelly exposed lines of "In questa reggia" with which she had to make her entrance. But she did not lack power, and her high C's cut thrillingly through the choral and orchestral climaxes of Act II. More than that, she acted the role with intelligence and passion, sharply telegraphing the rage of this proud princess who must surrender herself to a nameless foreigner. At one point, she shot the tenor Richard Margison a glance that might have given even Pavarotti the chills. She did all this while wearing cumbersome headgear that seemed to have upside-down bowling pins attached to it - part of the imperishable bric-a-brac of Franco Zeffirelli's 1987 production. A star is born? Hard to say But the soprano gave flesh and blood to a character who is often little more than an onslaught of high notes.