[Met Performance] CID:149110



Louise
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, December 10, 1948




Louise (49)
Gustave Charpentier | Gustave Charpentier
Louise
Dorothy Kirsten

Julien
Charles Kullman

Mother
Margaret Harshaw

Father
John Brownlee

Blanche
Thelma Altman

Marguerite
Jean Madeira

Suzanne
Martha Lipton

Gertrude
Hertha Glaz

Irma
Maxine Stellman

Camille/Artichoke Vendor
Thelma Votipka

?lise
Inge Manski

Madeleine
Paula Lenchner

Errand Girl
Lillian Raymondi

Forewoman
May Savage

Ragpicker
Nicola Moscona

Noctambulist
Thomas Hayward

Junkman
Philip Kinsman

Policeman
Emery Darcy

Policeman
Lawrence Davidson

Peddler/Painter
George Cehanovsky

Sculptor
Clifford Harvuot

Songwriter
Hugh Thompson

Student
Paul Franke

Poet
Anthony Marlowe

Philosopher
Lorenzo Alvary

Philosopher
Osie Hawkins

Old Clothes Man
Leslie Chabay

Pope of Fools
Alessio De Paolis

Dance
Marina Svetlova


Conductor
Emil Cooper


Director
D?sir? Defr?re

Designer
Joseph Urban

Choreographer
Boris Romanoff





Louise received four performances this season.
Kirsten's Act IV costume was designed by David Laurence Roth.

Review 1:

Review of Francis D. Perkins in the Herald Tribune

"Louise"

First Performance of Season at Metropolitan

Charpentier's "Louise" had its first performance of the season at the Metropolitan Opera House with Dorothy Kirsten, who had first sung "Louise" when this work was revived a year ago, again in the title role. The three other principal and thirty-five more or less minor characters in the most popular cast of the current repertory also were assigned to singers who had appeared in them before, except for Paul Franke, doubling as a student and a carrot vender, and Jean Browning-Madeira, tripling as Marguerite, a street sweeper and a chair mender.

"Louise" continues to be a work of much melodic appeal and some musical banality; while its drama is somewhat conditioned by its period, its principal factors and emotions are limited to no particular era, and its dramatic appeal can be persuasive today to an extent depending upon the performance. Yesterday's performance had its merits, but the general impression made upon one listener and spectator was one that went only occasionally beyond the point of respectability. There were times when the interpretation as a whole lacked momentum, especially in the first act; there was a gain in vitality, but musical and dramatic conviction seemed apparent only from time to time under Emil Cooper's conductorship.

Miss Kirsten's singing was generally pleasing: the high notes, at their best, were clear and firm, but the tonal standard varied; the dramatic interpretation had its likable features but did not give the sense of a complete realization of the character. Mr. Kullman, singing very creditably despite certain vocal limitations, was usually convincing as Julien; Miss Harshaw characterized Louise's mother with considerable vitality if with a touch of shrewishness in the first act. Mr. Brownlee, in that scene, was a kindly father, whose singing would have gained by a wider range of color. Several of the minor parts were effectively characterized.



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