Metropolitan Opera Archives

There was a spirited performance of Smetana's peasant opera "The Bartered Bride" put on at the Metropolitan last night for the refreshment of the Monday night audience, which on this occasion included celebrities such as T. P. O'Connor and Maurice Ravel; also the delegation of 376 young women from Stephens Junior College of Columbia, Missouri, which is seeing New York.

The performance was a repetition of that merry affair with which we have been thankfully familiar for over two seasons, with no changes in the cast other than Miss Dalossy's gay, light-footed Esmeralda and the eleventh-hour substitution of Mr. Ludikar for Mr. Bohnen in the role of the marriage broker, Kezal.

This was the first time Mr. Ludikar had attempted the part in German, being more at home in the original Czech. His delivery of the lines was a composite of both languages, and was a highly successful and lively impersonation, although the elaborate and humorous by-play of the German barytone was sometimes conspicuously missed. Mr. Bohnen was taken acutely ill yesterday afternoon and at a late hour last evening was reported to be suffering from a serious, but not dangerous, ailment which will keep him from operatic activities for some time.

Miss Müller, Mr. Laubenthal and Mr. Meader were the other principals of the cast, ably seconded by Mmes. Wakefield and Telva, Messrs. Wolfe, Bloch, Gabor and the corps de ballet headed by Miss Ruth Page. Mr. Bodanzky conducted.

Search by season: 1927-28

Search by title: The Bartered Bride,

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