[Met Performance] CID:152020



Samson et Dalila
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, November 26, 1949 Matinee Broadcast
Broadcast Matinee Broadcast


Debut : Muriel Ives, Natalie Kelepovska, Willard Leroux




Samson et Dalila (72)
Camille Saint-Saëns | Ferdinand Lemaire
Samson
Ramon Vinay

Dalila
Risë Stevens

High Priest
Robert Merrill

Abimélech
Osie Hawkins

Old Hebrew
Dezsö Ernster

Philistine
Leslie Chabay

Philistine
Clifford Harvuot

Messenger
Emery Darcy

Dance
Marina Svetlova

Dance
Audrey Keane

Dance
Tilda Morse

Dance
Peggy Smithers

Dance
Muriel Ives [Debut]

Dance
Natalie Kelepovska [Debut]

Dance
Leon Varkas

Dance
Alfred Corvino

Dance
Willard Leroux [Debut]


Conductor
Emil Cooper


Director
Désiré Defrère

Set Designer
Koeck-Meyer Studios

Costume Designer
Irene Sharaff

Choreographer
Boris Romanoff





Samson et Dalila received ten performances this season.
Irene Sharaff designed costumes only for the ballet. Risë Stevens' costumes were designed by Motley.
Rebroadcast on Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio

Review 1:

Irving Kolodin in the Sun

“Samson” Revived

 

Mere managerial miasma was at work in the matinee “Samson,” particularly in the haut couteur affected by Rise Stevens as Dalila. One had not previously realized that the art of dressmaking had progressed to flowing net skirts, spangled scarves and self-supporting bras in 1500 B. C. Obviously other members of the cast (including the High Priest) had not been able to patronize so tony a designer as Miss Stevens’s Motley. Her glitter amid the scenic poverty was a little more than tolerance could bear.

 There was a good deal to admire in her management of the vocal lines, but sumptuousness of tone or abandon of style were lacking. Miss Stevens, one might say, lay bare her midriff more easily than her soul. Otherwise, there was the physically imposing Samson of Ramon Vinay, a little strangulated in sound, the finely resonant High Priest of Robert Merrill, and the good Abimelech of Deszo Ernster. Saint-Saens’s static score has resisted the efforts of better singers than these, though Emil Cooper’s conducting offered some unexpected subtleties. Until such time, however, as the management knows in advance what the audience is going to see, the audience can hardly be surprised by what it sees. Desire Defrere could be credited with some excellent groupings as stage director of “Samson” however.



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