[Met Performance] CID:287150



Tannh?user
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, January 15, 1987

Debut : Jan-Hendrik Rootering, Joseph Cahill, Marcello Cipriano, Paul Coffey, Michael Eggar




Tannh?user (442)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Tannh?user
Richard Cassilly

Elisabeth
Jessye Norman

Wolfram
H?kan Hageg?rd

Venus
Eva Randov?

Hermann
Jan-Hendrik Rootering [Debut]

Walther
Gary Lakes

Heinrich
Thomas Booth

Biterolf
Richard J. Clark

Reinmar
Terry Cook

Shepherd
Dawn Upshaw

Page
Joseph Cahill [Debut]

Page
George Caputo

Page
Marcello Cipriano [Debut]

Page
Paul Coffey [Debut]

Page
David Cole

Page
Michael Eggar [Debut]

Page
Zachary Taylor [Last performance]

Page
George Wade


Conductor
James Levine


Production
Otto Schenk

Set Designer
G?nther Schneider-Siemssen

Costume Designer
Patricia Zipprodt

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Choreographer
Norbert Vesak





Tannh?user received seven performances this season.
At the time of his debut, Michael Eggar was billed as Michael Eggers;
the spelling was corrected as of 1/24/1987.

Review 1:

Review of Bill Zakariasen in the New York Daily News

RICHARD WAGNER'S "Tannhaeuser," still seen in its much-admired Otto Schenk--Gunther Schneider-Siemssen production, re-entered the repertory of the Metropolitan Opera Thursday night. Two singers returned to familiar roles-Richard Cassilly as Tannhaeuser and H?kan Hageg?rd as Wolfram, and James Levine again conducted, but otherwise the lineup was largely new.

Chief interest was directed towards soprano Jessye Norman, who sang her first Elisabeth in the house. The role is made to order for her voice-voluminous, wide in range and winningly sympathetic in tone. And it must be said that for a woman of such generous proportions, Norman conducted herself with a truly amazing grace, particularly during her deeply moving last-act pantomime.

German bass Jan-Hendrik Rootering made his Met debut as Landgraf Herrmann. He cut an imposing figure (even though he couldn't perform the miracle of making this character particularly interesting). Mezzo-soprano Eva Randova made a most impressive Venus-as much for her impassioned acting as for the ease with which she encompassed the treacherous vocal writing.

As Tannhaeuser, Cassilly sounded as if he were yet another victim of the flu bug that's going around. Some passages rang out with stentorian splendor, while others turned hoarse and under pitch, or sometimes just didn't come out at all. Nevertheless, Cassilly remains probably the finest current exponent of this role in dramatic terms-the anguished intensity of his portrayal has not been surpassed in this critic's experience.

Hagegard's Wolfram was appealingly youthful in demeanor and notably stronger in vocal projection than before. Gary Lakes also shone well as Walther von der Vogelweide-his bright, well-focused tenor rode the male ensembles in Acts I and II most impressively.



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