The Passion of Opera

Ah, a starring part of the repertoire starring a star. Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata  has always been a beloved work. I will openly say that I personally, however, don't find it to have the most convincing plot. Though it is saved, to some extent, by the fact that Violetta knows she is doomed to die before she even meets Alfredo, it just does not seem particularly compelling to me that she dies from an inevitable sickness. Still, this production was able to bring, at least in its final moments, emotional impact even to someone such as myself. An element of this production divisive to the population as a whole, however, is Natalie Dessay. Dessay is portrayed often as being in vocal decline, and many might object that Violetta is too large for her voice (through experiences with DVDs, I was inclined to say the same). Nonetheless, she is one of the seminal performers of recent years. Tonight, though not without some small warbles, she really impressed me with her singing, but...

I watched this rendition of La fille du regiment with the excellent Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez a few weeks ago and I am now getting around to my review of it. All in all, it was an excellent production. The leads did great jobs with just a few small foibles, and the supporting cast was superb in both acting and voice. The acting overall is quite good. Florez, for his part, has some rote gestures that he does again and again (particularly turning away and turning back before starting a phrase). However, he does a good job of acting the part with a sincerity that has been unusual until recently for tenors in particular. That said, there have been exceptions in the past and there are a wide variety of tenors with acting ability currently on the stages. Florez isn't an exquisite actor above the rest, but he's good enough without a doubt. The supporting singers all play their roles well, especially Felicity Palmer (except not so well when she's singi...