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[Met Tour] CID:156780



Cavalleria Rusticana
Pagliacci
Cleveland Public Auditorium, Cleveland, Ohio, Sat, April 21, 1951 Matinee










Review 1:

Review of Herbert Elwell in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
Met?s Double Bill Displays New D?cor and Costumes

In the Metropolitan?s presentation of Mascagni?s ?Cavalleria Rusticana? and Leoncavallo?s ?Pagliacci? at Public Hall yesterday afternoon, there were some puzzling things about the new d?cor of Horace Armstead and the new costuming by John Robert Lloyd. But we are so grateful to see the Metropolitan for once do something imaginative in the way of staging and lighting that we are not disposed to pick flaws.

I liked the Sicillian hill town depicted in ?Cavalleria,? with its laundry hung on the roof of the little caf?, the open air barbershop and the religious procession, which was an exact replica of what takes place in quaint Italian villages. Many of them do not, however, have telegraph poles, and probably none of them did in the 1890s, when this opera story is supposed to have taken place.

Costumes Improved

The costumes also may have been a bit too modern for that period, but they were a lot pleasanter to look at than the silly trappings that used to be worn in these operas.

I thought the ?Pagliacci? play with a play was an extremely effective burlesque, with delightfully light circus touches, but it was hard to see why the thing had to take place in what looked like a broken-down brick factory. The slight approach to surrealism was half-baked and a bit incongruous. Had it been carried further, we should probably have seen rhubarb growing out of Canio?s ears, and Tonio?s drum bedecked with alarm clocks.

The statuesque figure of Delia Rigal posed in silhouette against a white illuminated backdrop was a pleasing sight that compensated to some extent for her spotty vocalism. Singing the part of Nedda, she gave us some dramatic and vibrant high tones, but even at the top, where her voice is strongest, she still has a wide vibrato to overcome.

Choral Work Excellent

The solo singing in ?Pagliacci? was better than that of ?Cavalleria,? though the choral work was excellent in both. Giuseppe Valdengo as Tonio proved in his ?Prologue,? and in later portions, that with a well-focused voice and proper tonal production, a singer does not have to shout, even in Public Hall.

Yet in ?Cavalleria? Richard Tucker as Turiddu, and Astrid Varnay as Santuzza, did little else but scream at the top of their lungs. Some of the sound s that came forth were not just unmusical, but almost inhuman. Francesco Valentino, on the other hand, sang admirably as Alfio, as did Thelma Votipka in her sympathetically rounded role of Mamma Lucia. Margaret Roggero was attractive as Lola.

In ?Pagliacci? Ramon Vinay?s tenor scored well-merited applause, particularly in his dramatic ?Vesti la giubba.? His Canio had all the dramatic intensity that the part calls for, but his singing never deteriorated into unmusical ranting. Thomas Hayward as Beppe and Frank Guarrera also turned in good performances.

Albert Erede again conducted. Though too literal and lacking in all the authority he should have, he seemed more at home in these swaggering melodramas than with the scores he had conducted previously this week. ?Cavalleria? was staged by Hans Busch, ?Pagliacci? by Max Leavitt.


Search by season: 1950-51

Search by title: Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci,



Met careers

• Alberto Erede [Conductor]
• Astrid Varnay [Santuzza]
• Richard Tucker [Turiddu]
• Margaret Roggero [Lola]
• Frank Valentino [Alfio]
• Thelma Votipka [Mamma Lucia]
• Delia Rigal [Nedda]
• Ramon Vinay [Canio]
• Giuseppe Valdengo [Tonio]
• Frank Guarrera [Silvio]
• Thomas Hayward [Beppe]