#26
Posted: 6/13/11 at 4:27pm
Ben Heppner (dramatic tenor)
Opera Stars you want on the Broadway Stage — Page 2
#27
Posted: 6/13/11 at 4:35pm
RE: Teresa Stratas
I was very good friends with the late Jerry Hadley. He worked with Stratas and had nothing but bad things to say about her professionalism. According to Jerry she'd rehearse a scene one way and perform it another as the whim struck her. He also suggested that there might be some real instability in her psychological composition. (It's well-known that she's already tried committing suicide).
That said, I've seen her perform on several occasions and she was nothing short of brilliant.
I was very good friends with the late Jerry Hadley. He worked with Stratas and had nothing but bad things to say about her professionalism. According to Jerry she'd rehearse a scene one way and perform it another as the whim struck her. He also suggested that there might be some real instability in her psychological composition. (It's well-known that she's already tried committing suicide).
That said, I've seen her perform on several occasions and she was nothing short of brilliant.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#28
Posted: 6/13/11 at 4:47pm
I truly don't mean this to sound unkind, but Jerry Hadley was not exactly the world's best authority on mental stability, given his tragic end.
But yes, Stratas was famously volatile. Her in-the-moment acting may well have been a source of frustration to those with whom she shared the stage, but it made her performances thrilling for the audience.
But yes, Stratas was famously volatile. Her in-the-moment acting may well have been a source of frustration to those with whom she shared the stage, but it made her performances thrilling for the audience.
#29
Posted: 6/13/11 at 4:52pm
Reginald, I have to agree with you about Hadley's instability. Our relationship dissipated because of it in the last few months of his life. Even without his assessment of her, the fact that she missed a goodly number of performances each season speaks for itself.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#30
Posted: 6/13/11 at 4:56pm
It certainly does. But I don't think "whimisical" is the right way to describe her.
She actually has talked about her missed performances--and believe me, I recall the heartbreak of seeing that little man come out with the microphone to announce that Miss Stratas would not be appearing.
But she always felt that by not performing when she couldn't do so to the utmost of her ability, she WAS being professional.
I wouldn't have minded her splitting the difference a little more than she did, but I don't think it was mere whim.
She actually has talked about her missed performances--and believe me, I recall the heartbreak of seeing that little man come out with the microphone to announce that Miss Stratas would not be appearing.
But she always felt that by not performing when she couldn't do so to the utmost of her ability, she WAS being professional.
I wouldn't have minded her splitting the difference a little more than she did, but I don't think it was mere whim.
Updated On: 6/13/11 at 04:56 PM
#31
Posted: 6/13/11 at 4:56pm
One thing to keep in mind: most opera singers have no actual dramatic training beyond working with opera directors and/or whatever they pick up in the conservatory. While they might sing beautifully, many are completely wooden on stage. I have seen nearly every opera singer mentioned on this thread in a staged opera, and while their voices amaze, their stage presence...doesn't. That's why I'm always slightly wary whenever someone suggests that opera singers make the leap to actual drama.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 6/13/11 at 04:56 PM
#32
Posted: 6/13/11 at 4:57pm
But I'm not arguing that she was loony. That's why I suggested the Beggar Woman. :)
#33
Posted: 6/13/11 at 5:01pm
She's not the only singer mentioned in this thread who's been pegged as having mental breakdowns. The same has been said about Maria Callas and Kathleen Battle as well.
Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!
#34
Posted: 6/13/11 at 5:08pm
I don't think I ever heard of Callas having breakdowns (which isn't to say she didn't). Yes, the stories about Battle are legion. I actually witnessed some very strange behavior . . . and it was only a recital!
Opera does seem to attract (or create) extreme personalities, doesn't it?
Opera does seem to attract (or create) extreme personalities, doesn't it?
#35
Posted: 6/13/11 at 5:37pm
For me, "in the moment" acting is the best. Hugh Dancy was doing it onstage every night in "Journey's End" which made it thrilling every performance. No two performances alike. This is an aim taught me by a RADA classical actor. It's hard to do. It requires a certain bravery and mastery of the text.
It may originate from the Russian school, Stanislavsky and Checkov acting which the RADA actors adopted in the early 1900's.
It may originate from the Russian school, Stanislavsky and Checkov acting which the RADA actors adopted in the early 1900's.
#36
Posted: 6/13/11 at 7:07pm
How could you see what Hugh Dancy was doing in JOURNEY'S END? The production had such low lighting (for effect) that I could hardly discern who was on stage--let alone what they were doing.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#37
Posted: 6/13/11 at 7:25pm
Yes, because the trenches in World War I were so well-known for their immaculate lighting.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#38
Posted: 6/13/11 at 7:37pm
I could see him just fine, Dolly, and he wasn't hard to look at either! 
#39
Posted: 6/13/11 at 10:05pm
I'm troubled by the generalization that opera singers have no formal dramatic training, and that they are "wooden." I have seen some extraordinary acting by opera singers, and I will give you a couple of recent examples. I saw the MET's IL TRITTICO in November 2009, and every principal singer in each of the three operas (dramatic, tragic and comic, respectively) gave as nuanced and committed a performance as any Broadway singer I've seen. The new production of CARMEN was very dramatically secure and peopled with principal singers who not only sang beautifully but acted well and looked gorgeous. The days of "park and bark" that marked some of the great voices of past decades are largely over.
#40
Posted: 6/13/11 at 11:00pm
Renee Fleming!!!! I would love to see her in Phantom as Carlota or in Master Class
Genius lasts longer than beauty.
#41
Posted: 6/13/11 at 11:18pm
I'm going to have to speak and disagree with the fact that opera singers have no presence, or acting experiences. Having just graduated with my degree in vocal performances, I can tell you I'm just as versed as any straight theatre actor on Stanislavsky, Felsenstein,etc. I've had acting classes out the wazoo, because that's what opera is nowadays.
Especially with the new crop of opera singers, i.e. Gunn, Damrau, Dessay, they have taken acting in opera to a whole different level.
Especially with the new crop of opera singers, i.e. Gunn, Damrau, Dessay, they have taken acting in opera to a whole different level.
#42
Posted: 6/14/11 at 7:45am
The new production of CARMEN was very dramatically secure and peopled with principal singers who not only sang beautifully but acted well and looked gorgeous. The days of "park and bark" that marked some of the great voices of past decades are largely over.
If you're speaking of the same production that I saw (Elina Garanca, Roberto Alagna, Barbara Frittoli, Mariusz Kweicien), then I have to greatly disagree with you. Garanca is no actress, and Kweicien graduated from the old-school baritone school of acting. Alagna and, occassionally, Frittoli fared better, but I wouldn't call either actors.
There are some opera singers (Racette, Damrau, Jonas Kaufmann, Joyce DiDonato) who I think have great stage presence--but most do not. Park and bark is way more alive than most people want to admit. I see opera on a regular basis, and that is my empirical opinion.
If you're speaking of the same production that I saw (Elina Garanca, Roberto Alagna, Barbara Frittoli, Mariusz Kweicien), then I have to greatly disagree with you. Garanca is no actress, and Kweicien graduated from the old-school baritone school of acting. Alagna and, occassionally, Frittoli fared better, but I wouldn't call either actors.
There are some opera singers (Racette, Damrau, Jonas Kaufmann, Joyce DiDonato) who I think have great stage presence--but most do not. Park and bark is way more alive than most people want to admit. I see opera on a regular basis, and that is my empirical opinion.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#43
Posted: 6/14/11 at 12:14pm
So we agree to disagree. Garanca was the best Carmen I've seen.
#44
Posted: 6/14/11 at 12:26pm
Yes, we do. Many people loved that performance. I found her singing beautiful but her acting cold and inert. And I'm not alone in my assessment.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
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