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[Met Performance] CID:196430
Faust
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, November 28, 1963
Debut : Richard Verreau
Faust (574)
Charles Gounod | Jules Barbier/Michel Carré
Review 1:
Review of Peter Davis in Musical America
So far this season "Faust" has been the chief stumbling block in the Metropolitan's current tenor crisis. At the performance of November 28, however, the management definitely produced a winner in the person of Richard Verreau. Such impeccably clear French diction is rarely heard at the Met, for on this occasion Mr. Verreau was the only intelligible person in the cast. The voice is forward and resonant and well suited to handle Gounod's melting melodic phrases. The aria in the second act was exquisitely sung, the reprise of the open*ing melody delivered with a finely toned yet clearly audible “mezza voce,” while the high C rang with warmth and clarity. Not a particularly gifted actor, Mr. Verreau wisely decided that no acting was better than bad acting. In spite of this drawback a singer with such a command of French style is badly needed, and the Metropolitan should immediately incorporate this artist into its ailing new production of "Manon."
Nicoletta Panni fulfilled the promise she displayed in her debut by singing Marguerite quite fetchingly. Her treatment of French music is understandably not so idiomatic as it is of Puccini, yet her voice quality and sympathetic acting are well suited to the role. Jerome Hines, assuming Mephistopheles for the first time this season, made a dashing devil, although there was little suavity in his wholesale distortions of the vocal line to achieve this characterization. Others in the cast included Vladimir Ruzdak, Marcia Baldwin, Gladys Kriese, and Louis Sgarro, Fausto Cleva conducting.
Search by season: 1963-64
Search by title: Faust,
Met careers
Faust
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, November 28, 1963
Debut : Richard Verreau
Faust (574)
Charles Gounod | Jules Barbier/Michel Carré
- Faust
- Richard Verreau [Debut]
- Marguerite
- Nicoletta Panni
- Méphistophélès
- Jerome Hines
- Valentin
- Vladimir Ruzdak
- Siebel
- Marcia Baldwin
- Marthe
- Gladys Kriese
- Wagner
- Louis Sgarro
- Dance
- Katharyn Horne
- Dance
- Edith Jerell
- Dance
- Fern MacLarnon
- Dance
- Nira Paaz
- Conductor
- Fausto Cleva
Review 1:
Review of Peter Davis in Musical America
So far this season "Faust" has been the chief stumbling block in the Metropolitan's current tenor crisis. At the performance of November 28, however, the management definitely produced a winner in the person of Richard Verreau. Such impeccably clear French diction is rarely heard at the Met, for on this occasion Mr. Verreau was the only intelligible person in the cast. The voice is forward and resonant and well suited to handle Gounod's melting melodic phrases. The aria in the second act was exquisitely sung, the reprise of the open*ing melody delivered with a finely toned yet clearly audible “mezza voce,” while the high C rang with warmth and clarity. Not a particularly gifted actor, Mr. Verreau wisely decided that no acting was better than bad acting. In spite of this drawback a singer with such a command of French style is badly needed, and the Metropolitan should immediately incorporate this artist into its ailing new production of "Manon."
Nicoletta Panni fulfilled the promise she displayed in her debut by singing Marguerite quite fetchingly. Her treatment of French music is understandably not so idiomatic as it is of Puccini, yet her voice quality and sympathetic acting are well suited to the role. Jerome Hines, assuming Mephistopheles for the first time this season, made a dashing devil, although there was little suavity in his wholesale distortions of the vocal line to achieve this characterization. Others in the cast included Vladimir Ruzdak, Marcia Baldwin, Gladys Kriese, and Louis Sgarro, Fausto Cleva conducting.
Search by season: 1963-64
Search by title: Faust,
Met careers