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Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, December 21, 1987
Debut : Charles Dutoit, Susan Quittmeyer
Les Contes d'Hoffmann (183)
Jacques Offenbach | Jules Barbier
- Hoffmann
- Neil Shicoff
- Olympia
- Gwendolyn Bradley
- Giulietta
- Tatiana Troyanos
- Antonia
- Roberta Alexander
- Stella
- Pauline Andrey
- Lindorf/Coppélius/Dappertutto/Dr. Miracle
- James Morris
- Nicklausse/Muse
- Susan Quittmeyer [Debut]
- Andrès/Cochenille/Pitichinaccio/Frantz
- Anthony Laciura
- Luther
- Spiro Malas
- Nathanael
- Mark Baker
- Hermann
- David Bernard
- Spalanzani
- Andrea Velis
- Schlemil
- Morley Meredith
- Crespel
- John Macurdy
- Mother's Voice
- Gweneth Bean
- Conductor
- Charles Dutoit [Debut]
- Production
- Otto Schenk
- Set Designer
- Günther Schneider-Siemssen
- Costume Designer
- Gaby Frey
- Lighting Designer
- Gil Wechsler
- Stage Director
- Lesley Koenig
Les Contes d'Hoffmann received fifteen performances this season.
Review 1:
Review of Manuela Hoelterhoff in the Wall Street Journal
So when a performance comes along in which everybody actually belongs on stage, who can hardly believe it. Such a miracle happened last week when the company revived Offenbach's "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" with Neil Shicoff singing so superbly you thought you were hallucinating as much as the drunk and delirious Hoffmann. This was one of those nights when the tenor's confidence matched his vocal gifts, and he gave a beguiling, suavely phrased performance.
He deserved the three weird women he pursues. Gwendolyn Bradley piped up amusingly as the doll he adores; Tatiana Troyanos eventually settled into her pillows as the Venetian courtesan Giulietta, and there was plaintive Roberta Alexander as the consumptive Antonia, who dies for a song, hurried to her maker by the nightmarish Dr. Miracle. James Morris played him and the other villains with a deft mix of horror and hilarity.
The imaginative production by Otto Schenk remains one of the Met's best, and it was further enhanced by two debuts. Conductor Charles Dutoit, the chief of the Montreal Symphony, brought elegance and vitality to the score; mezzo-soprano Susan Quittmeyer was unusually vivid as Hoffmann's faithful chum, Nicklausse. She has a beautifully focused voice, and Mr. Dutoit was right to let her sing a recently discovered, if limp, little Offenbach song.
Photograph of Neil Shicoff as the title role in Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Winnie Klotz/Metropolitan Opera.
Search by season: 1987-88
Search by title: Les Contes d'Hoffmann,
Met careers
- Charles Dutoit [Conductor]
- Neil Shicoff [Hoffmann]
- Gwendolyn Bradley [Olympia]
- Tatiana Troyanos [Giulietta]
- Roberta Alexander [Antonia]
- Pauline Andrey [Stella]
- James Morris [Lindorf/Coppélius/Dappertutto/Dr. Miracle]
- Susan Quittmeyer [Nicklausse/Muse]
- Anthony Laciura [Andrès/Cochenille/Pitichinaccio/Frantz]
- Spiro Malas [Luther]
- Mark Baker [Nathanael]
- David Bernard [Hermann]
- Andrea Velis [Spalanzani]
- Morley Meredith [Schlemil]
- John Macurdy [Crespel]
- Gweneth Bean [Mother's Voice]
- Otto Schenk [Production]
- Günther Schneider-Siemssen [Set Designer]
- Gaby Frey [Costume Designer]
- Gil Wechsler [Lighting Designer]
- Lesley Koenig [Stage Director]
