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[Met Performance] CID:243680

New production

Il Trittico
Il Tabarro
Suor Angelica
Gianni Schicchi
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, December 19, 1975

Debut : Evelyn Mandac







Il Trittico received seventeen performances this season.
Productions of Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica a gift of the William Penn Foundation and Mrs. and Mrs. Alan J. Broder
Production of Gianni Schicchi a gift of the Corbett Foundation of Cincinnati
This was the first performance at the Metropolitan Opera of all three works in Puccini's Il Trittico since 1920.

Review 1:

Review of Bill Zakariasen in the DAILY NEWS

"Come difficile esser felice."

How hard it is to be happy! The line if from "Il Tabarro," one of Giacomo Puccini's three one-act operas that make up "Il Trittico," which the Metropolitan Friday put together for the first time in 55 years. Though Puccini as one of the most successful composers of all time no artist ever made more out of human misery than he. Even in his solitary comedy "Gianni Schicchi" - also from "Trittico" - the humor is at the expense of a dead body, which is (in the Met production anyway) in full view of the audience for two-thirds of the action.

"Gianni Schicchi" is, however, by far, the most popular of the triptych, and the present production of it was unveiled over a year ago. Its virtues and vices remain constant: David Reppa's set still has Busso Donati's bed and Rinuccio still looks like he's wearing diapers. Fabrizio Melano's staging is all-out slapstick, but at least it's alive.

The performance was a notable improvement in musical manners, however. Ensemble work was clean, and vocally Cornell MacNeil in the title role and Lilli Chookasian as Zita were decided gains over their predecessors. MacNeil isn't quite as funny as he could be (his imitation of the dying Busso was positively bel canto) but he was a positive, dominating force in the action, as he was as the jealous sea captain Michele in "Tabarro." Chookasian was likewise splendid as Frugola in that opera and as the Princess in "Suor Angelica."

There was a debut in "Schicchi" - Evelyn Mandac as Lauretta. She sang sweetly, but the role is too small to show much of her considerable talents. Sixten Ehrling's conducting in all three scores didn't possess much of the continuous rubout desirable in Puccini performances, but it was clean throughout, especially successful in rhythmic definition and exposure of orchestral details not often heard. As usual, he was at all times considerate of the voices.

Reppa's new set for "Tabarro" is superb in construction and atmosphere, and Melano's staging here is well-tuned to verismo mood. As Luigi, Harry Theyard has his best Met role so far. It is a part made to order for a singing John Garfield, and that's just how he plays it. Particularly effective was his aria "Hai ben ragione!" a paean of social protest in which Theyard glumly kept his hands in his pockets instead of waving them at the gallery. In small roles, Philip Booth and Charles Anthony were fine.

On the debit side was Teresa Kubiak's Giorgetta - inappropriately harsh in voice and sexless in movement. The taped sounds of the boat whistles were poorly handled - they sounded more like doodling on an electric organ.

I can't say I've ever liked "Suor Angelica' much - the saccharine plot and music always reminded me of a statue of the Blessed Mother with painted toenails - but the performance was often magnificent. Gilda Cruz-Romo scored a personal triumph in the title role, singing and acting to near-perfection.

Reppa's set was functional if not very imaginative, and Melano handled the tricky vision scene at the end with taste. Several of the small roles here and in "Schicchi" were sung by chorus members. All did their colleagues proud, so let's mention them: Joyce Olsen, Maureen Smith, Mary Fercana, Linda Mays, Shinja Kwak, Ann Florie, Elena Doria, Peter Slicker and Herman Marcus.

Review 2:

Review of Alan Rich in New York Magazine

Common practice is to rank "Gianni Schicchi" as the best of the three one-act operas that make up Puccini's "II Trittico" and the inventive wit and charm of this elegant, well-made work cannot be denied. But the Met's new production of all three pieces is especially valuable for its revelation of the high qualities in "II Tabarro."

In no other Puccini is there such immaculate control of time, so keen a blending of tense dramatic action and smaller moments used to set off and enhance that action. As director Fabrizio Melano moves his people around David Reppa's handsome, realistic set, the tawdry little drama of the barge keeper and his errant wife becomes unbearably intense, its resolution genuinely shattering. Not a movement, not a shred of incidental atmosphere, detracts from the onrush of the action.

Overall, the Met has done well by all three works. "Suor Angelica," of course, is hopeless, not only for its embarrassing quotient of febrile sentimentality but more for the lack of music that might make that sentiment attractive. If the work must be done, better to do it as Melano has conceived it: staged, for the most part, with so little extraneous movement that it almost resembles a pictorial oratorio, and with the final "miracle" left to the viewer's imagination.

Significantly, the entire evening is an "in-house" creation, designed and directed by members of the Met's resident staff and conducted by Sixten Ehrling, who is also one of the company's workmen. All in all, the venture has been successful, most of all in revealing the superior intelligence of the company's steady employees. Ehrling's conducting may lack the wit that others have brought to "Schicchi," but his pacing of the other two works, the cumulative power of "Tabarro" and the quiet, simple unfolding of "Angelica" are among the best things he has done in the house. Among the cast, Cornell MacNeil was outstanding as the husband in "Tabarro," although less appealing as "Schicchi;" Gilda Cruz-Romo was a splendid Angelica except in the few moments when her loud singing became somewhat forced; Evelyn Mandac, the one new voice, was a lovely if occasionally inaudible Lauretta in "Schicchi;" Harry Theyard and Teresa Kubiak were a powerful pair of lovers in "Tabarro;" and Lili Chookasian worked in all three operas with gusto.

Search by season: 1975-76

Search by title: Il Trittico, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi,



Met careers

• Sixten Ehrling [Conductor]
• Teresa Kubiak [Giorgetta]
• Harry Theyard [Luigi]
• Cornell MacNeil [Michele]
• Lili Chookasian [Frugola]
• Philip Booth [Talpa]
• Charles Anthony [Tinca]
• Jon Garrison [Song Seller]
• Betsy Norden [Lover]
• Douglas Ahlstedt [Lover]
• Fabrizio Melano [Production]
• David Reppa [Designer]
• Gilda Cruz-Romo [Angelica]
• Lili Chookasian [Princess]
• Betsy Norden [Genovieffa]
• Mary Fercana [Osmina]
• Ann Florio [Dolcina]
• Marcia Baldwin [Monitor]
• Jean Kraft [Abbess]
• Batyah Godfrey Ben-David [Mistress of Novices]
• Cynthia Munzer [Nurse]
• Maureen Smith [Lay Sister]
• Joyce Olson [Lay Sister]
• Linda Mays [Novice]
• Shinja Kwak [Novice]
• Alma Jean Smith [Alms Collector]
• Elena Doria [Alms Collector]
• Cornell MacNeil [Gianni Schicchi]
• Evelyn Mandac [Lauretta]
• Raymond Gibbs [Rinuccio]
• Betsy Norden [Nella]
• Marcia Baldwin [Ciesca]
• Lili Chookasian [Zita]
• Charles Anthony [Gherardo]
• Russell Christopher [Betto]
• Gene Boucher [Marco]
• Raymond Michalski [Simone]
• Lawrence Klein [Gherardino]
• Edmond Karlsrud [Spinelloccio]
• Andrij Dobriansky [Amantio]
• Herman Marcus [Pinellino]
• Peter Sliker [Guccio]
• Terry Allen [Buoso Donati]