[Met Tour] CID:97860



Turandot
Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, Brooklyn, Tue, January 3, 1928









Review 1:

Review of Edward Cushing in the Brooklyn Eagle

Much that "Turandot" lacks in itself the Metropolitan has supplied in the performance. The libretto fashioned from Goldoni's comedy is in reality less dramatic than Mme. Jeritza and her confederates make it appear. One may feel rather ashamed of the manner in which the phantoms are managed in the first act, but certainly there is little of which to complain in the pomp and pageantry of all that follows. Mr. Urban's settings seem designed to frame characters and crowds; they are not in themselves distinguished, but they provide workable backgrounds for the massing of the chorus and the central unfolding of the play.

"Turandot" is well cast. Mme. Jeritza exercises an imperious domination over the performance - no role discloses her fundamentally theatrical art to better advantage. Here is need for inexhaustible voice, commanding gestures. The opera is hers from the moment she appears on her moon-lit balcony, an incarnation of vengeance, until undone and subdued, she gives herself to Calaf at the close. As for Calaf himself, without admiring in the least the quality of Mr. Lauri-Volpi's voice, one can admit in his performances a dignity as engaging as it is rare upon the operatic stage. Last evening Miss Dalossy sang Liu for the first time. She was much in earnest about it; she acted with abandon, sometimes with effect, and she sang well. A last minute change in cast substituted George Meader for Max Altglass as the Emperor Altoum - a fortunate break for Brooklyn. The trio of Chancellor Purveyor and Cook could be recognized, even lacking the aid of a program, as Messrs. Basiola, Bada and Tedesco: granted the opportunity they failed to make themselves tedious. Mr. Ludikar was the Timur and lesser roles fell to the lot of Mmes. Parisette and Flexer and Mr. Cehanovsky. Mr. Serafin clothed the whole in purple and gold or orchestral sound.



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