[Met Performance] CID:136880



Rigoletto
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, February 16, 1944




Rigoletto (251)
Giuseppe Verdi | Francesco Maria Piave
Rigoletto
Frank Valentino

Gilda
Patrice Munsel

Duke of Mantua
Jan Peerce

Maddalena
Bruna Castagna

Sparafucile
Nicola Moscona

Monterone
Lansing Hatfield

Borsa
John Dudley

Marullo
George Cehanovsky

Count Ceprano
John Baker

Countess Ceprano
Maxine Stellman

Giovanna
Helen Olheim

Page
Edith Herlick


Conductor
Cesare Sodero







Review 1:

Review of Oscar Thompson in the Sun

MUNSEL AS GILDA

Patrice Munsel sang her first Gilda in last night's repetition of "Rigoletto" at the Metropolitan Opera House. She was as immature for this role as she was for Philine in "Mignon" or Olympia in "Les Contes d'Hoffmann." But she again sang and acted with an assurance unusual in a singer still in her teens. Gilda, of course, is a very young girl, and for once there was no need to counterfeit youth on the stage.

Miss Munsel again made clear that she has both musical and stage talent, but her voice production, while it enables her to sing coloratura easily, is still far from settled, and her acting is naïve. Her "Caro nome" was strenuously applauded, but was not finished singing. She took the high E as she left the stage. In the concerted pieces she revealed rather more voice than had been expected, holding her own in the quartet of the last act and in the subsequent trio. What the young women needs, before it is too late, is more study.

Francisco Valentino presented his second Rigoletto here, replacing Lawrence Tibbett. His acting was distinctly better than his singing which was often throaty and forced. Jan Peerce was a lyrical Duke and Bruna Castagna a warm-voiced Maddalena. Nicola Moscona's Sparafucile was resonant and soundly routine. Lansing Hatfield appeared as Monterone and Helen Olheim as Giovanna. Cesare Soldeo conducted.



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