[Met Performance] CID:205670



Falstaff
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, March 9, 1966

Debut : Thomas Stewart




Falstaff (95)
Giuseppe Verdi | Arrigo Boito
Sir John Falstaff
Tito Gobbi

Alice Ford
Pilar Lorengar

Ford
Thomas Stewart [Debut]

Dame Quickly
Lili Chookasian

Nannetta
Judith Raskin

Fenton
Luigi Alva

Meg Page
Mildred Miller

Dr. Cajus
Mariano Caruso

Bardolfo
Andrea Velis

Pistola
Norman Scott

Mistress of the Inn
Rae Calitri

Innkeeper
Thomas Powell


Conductor
Joseph Rosenstock





Stewart
Thomas Stewart, who made his debut as Ford in a Falstaff of the same week, has the look as well as the sound of an interesting operatic performer. He is tall and well proportioned and he moves well, with a voice that is not quite so tall, but is well proportioned and shows the flexibility to be moved well. As Ford, he looks more like a landed English gentleman should (and probably hasn't) since Lawrence Tibbett. Vocally, Stewart (Texas-born, German-experienced) has a solid sound up to the area of F and G. He seemed, in this first encounter with the spaces of stage and auditorium, to be pushing for volume, which needn't concern him, as he can readily be heard. It is possible, too, that some of the tenderness at the top was a result of the condition that caused him to miss his first Ford, scheduled for five days before. Dramatically, Stewart indulged in more business than was absolutely essential, perhaps to deal with the dilemma caused by sharing the stage with Tito Gobbi as Falstaff. But Stewart is too good a performer on his own to resort to this kind of in-fighting. What is required, vocally as well as dramatically, is for him to refine what he does, focus his effort more productively, and get all the results inherent in the means at his disposal.
Photograph of Thomas Stewart as Ford in Falstaff by Louis M?lan?on.

Search by season: 1965-66

Search by title: Falstaff,



Met careers