Rise Stevens

[Ed_Mottershead]

Rise Stevens#1

Posted: 3/23/13 at 6:54pm

I know this is a theatre-based board (Broadway), but did anyone here see the Lincoln Center King and I with Stevens? Her recording of Carmen was the first opera I ever purchased and I loved her ever since. RIP.

BroadwayEd

[jv92]

Rise Stevens#2

Posted: 3/23/13 at 7:10pm

Did not see her in KING AND I, but funny-- or not so funny, maybe morbidly ironic is more like it-- but I listened to her LADY IN THE DARK recording the day before she died. RIP.

[egghumor]

Rise Stevens#2

Posted: 3/23/13 at 7:20pm

Miss Stevens' version of LADY IN THE DARK remains my favorite, and I still listen to it on occasion. RIP Rise Stevens.

I saw her son Nicholas Surovy several times in Caryl Churchill and Tommy Tune's perfect confection, CLOUD 9.

[Owen22]

Rise Stevens#3

Posted: 3/24/13 at 12:10pm

And was the voice of Glinda in the Liza animated Oz movie from teh 70's. The one where Glinda had a "Glindabird"...?

[beautywickedlover]

Rise Stevens#4

Posted: 3/26/13 at 2:46pm

I had no idea she passed recently. She was so talented. RIP

[Ed_Mottershead]

Rise Stevens#5

Posted: 3/26/13 at 3:09pm

There was a two-column article in the NYT on Thursday and it was also noted on the front page. It's fortunate that almost all her major roles were recorded commercially, either in toto or highlights: Carmen (complete and earlier highlights), Orfeo, Marriage of Figaro, Rosenkavalier (highlights), Fledermaus (highlights and complete), Dalila (highlights -- twice), Gioconda (duet with Pinza) and Mignon (solo and duet with Pinza), not to mention many pop recordings, plus some operettas (Merry Widow and Chocolate Soldier). And pirates galore -- fine performances of Carmen, plus Rosenkavalier and Hoffmann, to name a few.

BroadwayEd

Updated On: 3/26/13 at 03:09 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Rise Stevens#6

Posted: 3/26/13 at 3:19pm

I have the Lincoln Center recording of "The King and I". I haven't listened to it in ages, but I remember really liking it when I first heard it. It originally belonged to my grandmother.

Hey Dottie! Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany

[WOSQ]

Rise Stevens#7

Posted: 3/26/13 at 3:20pm

A great if not legendary singer. Also a dedicated arts administrator after she stopped singing.

And a good punchline in The Lisbon Traviata (keeping in mind the many pants roles she sang):

This dialogue is a paraphrase, alas.

"Oh you're such a butch guy."
"I'm not butch...Rise Stevens is butch."

"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." --Carrie Fisher