Metropolitan Opera Archives

New Year's Eve brought the season's first performance of Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" with Edward Johnson and Queena Mario giving their unexcelled characterizations of the ill-starred lovers. The remainder of the cast included Henriette Wakefield as the Nurse; Giuseppe de Luca as Mercutio; Leon Rothier as Frère Laurent, and in the smaller roles, Raymonde Delaunois, Angelo Bada, Max Altglass, Millo Picco, Paolo Ananian, Louis D'Angelo and William Gustafson. Louis Hasselmans conducted.

The opera began in ragged fashion and the early choruses were at sixes and sevens more than once. Throughout the evening there were spots when Mr. Hasselmans' tempi were dolorously slow, notably in the Madrigal. Mr. Johnson started the evening somewhat deliberately, but worked in the part so that, as a whole, his characterization was consistent and, in many places, quite thrilling. Vocally, he was at his best and his voice never sounded to greater advantage.

Miss Mario's Juliette has a quality of youthful wistfulness that is very engaging. Even when she has worked into the tragedy of the piece, it is the tragedy of the fourteen-year-old Juliet whom Shakespeare drew but whom one seldom if ever sees. In this rôle Miss Mario might drop her singing and challenge a verdict upon the dramatic stage. Her singing was excellent throughout the evening but was best, perhaps, in the Balcony Scene and the Chamber Scene.

Throughout the evening there was much healthy applause from the entire house and not merely from the restricted section at the ends of the Family Circle and behind the Orchestra Circle.

Search by season: 1925-26

Search by title: Roméo et Juliette,

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