[Met Performance] CID:197730



Cavalleria Rusticana
Pagliacci
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, March 28, 1964




Cavalleria Rusticana (436)
Pietro Mascagni | Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Guido Menasci
Santuzza
Irene Dalis

Turiddu
Franco Corelli

Lola
Janis Martin

Alfio
Cesare Bardelli

Mamma Lucia
Lili Chookasian


Conductor
Nello Santi


Pagliacci (475)
Ruggero Leoncavallo | Ruggero Leoncavallo
Nedda
Lucine Amara

Canio
James McCracken

Tonio
Nicolae Herlea

Silvio
William Walker

Beppe
Franco Ghitti

Villager
Joseph Folmer

Villager
Lloyd Strang


Conductor
Nello Santi







Review 1:

Review of John Ardoin in Musical America
This twin bill of March 28 brought Franco Corelli?s first Turiddu, Janis Martin?s first Lola and William Walker?s first Silvio at the Met. Season?s first were sung by James McCracken, as Canio, and Irene Dalis, as Santuzza. Even with some excellent singing by Corelli, this ?Cavalleria? was on the whole, tedious. A mezzo Santuzza (including Simionato) is an unhappy substitution for the real thing ? a soprano who can ride the high phrases of the role with ease and abandon. Compounding the miscasting of Miss Dalis was the barking of Cesare Bardelli, as Alfio, and the pedestrian conducting of Nello Santi. Mr. Corelli cut a suave, dashing figure onstage and moved with conviction. But his heart seemed not fully in the proceedings, and it is hard to blame him. There was nothing at all wrong, however, with the fine Lola by Miss Martin.

?Pagliacci? was a different matter because James McCracken infused the entire cast with purpose and the audience with excitement. His Canio was as superbly thought out and acted as last year?s. He seemed to push his voice harder than before, and there were stretches that gave cause for alarm. Mr. McCracken is such a marvelous addition to the Metropolitan that I hope he takes care not to oversing or cruelly force his voice again as he did at times on this evening. Mr. Walker?s Silvio was vocally and dramatically solid. Lucine Amara (Nedda), Nicolae Herlea (Tonio) and Franco Ghitti (Beppe) completed the cast.


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