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New Production
La Fanciulla del West
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, October 10, 1991
Debut : Leonard Slatkin, Perry Ward, Kim Josephson, Hao Jiang Tian, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Michael Scott
La Fanciulla del West (76)
Giacomo Puccini | Guelfo Civinini/Carlo Zangarini
- Minnie
- Barbara Daniels
- Dick Johnson
- Pl?cido Domingo
- Jack Rance
- Sherrill Milnes
- Joe
- Michael Forest
- Handsome
- Richard Vernon
- Harry
- Bernard Fitch
- Happy
- Kevin Short
- Sid
- Perry Ward [Debut]
- Sonora
- Bruno Pola
- Trin
- Charles Anthony
- Jim Larkens
- Kim Josephson [Debut]
- Nick
- Anthony Laciura
- Jake Wallace
- Terry Cook
- Ashby
- Julien Robbins
- Post Rider
- Michael Best
- Castro
- Vernon Hartman
- Billy Jackrabbit
- Hao Jiang Tian [Debut]
- Wowkle
- Sondra Kelly
- Conductor
- Leonard Slatkin [Debut]
- Production
- Giancarlo Del Monaco [Debut]
- Designer
- Michael Scott [Debut]
- Lighting Designer
- Gil Wechsler
La Fanciulla del West received twelve performances this season.
FUNDING:
Production a gift of Mrs. Donald D. Harrington
Review 1:
Manuela Hoelterhoff in the Wall Street Journal
Golden Girl
After all, it can still pull off a production all on its own, and for proof we had the perfectly splendid-looking "La Fanciulla del West." Now that was an evening in which the pennies turned to gold. In sympathetic hands, Puccini's cornball opera about lonesome miners in the Wild West can be amusing entertainment, and so it was in this attractively spacious, unpretentious staging by Giancarlo del Monaco and his designer, Michael Scott. They were both making their debuts, along with the invigoratingly enthusiastic conductor, Leonard Slatkin. Their arrival at the Met is cause for hope.
Mr. del Monaco is the son of the tenor Mario del Monaco, whose thrilling Dick Johnson is preserved on Decca/London with Renata Tebaldi's appealing Minnie. Minnie runs the Polka Saloon, a rather large establishment in this production. But Mr. del Monaco used it imaginatively to showcase the miners who gather here to weep, drink, gawk at Minnie and hit each other over the head. All lost souls, their small stories were heightened by the vastness of the West we glimpsed through the saloon's open doors, the little snow-chilled but hacked out of immense pine trees where Minnie bravely entertains her bandit, and the loneliness of the last act's ghost town.
It is all as beguiling as this flawed opera with its endless first act can possibly be without a charming Minnie. Nudged, I would assume, by the director in his one major miscalculation, the likable Barbara Daniels assumed a coy persona as ill-fitting to her generous size as those bosom-hugging costumes. But in the end, it was the musical role that didn't fit. Struggling to fill out Minnie's big vocal moments, Ms. Daniels had little left over to mold her endearingly dumb lines in the manner of the fondly remembered Tebaldi.
But better companions no Minnie could ask for. Eye-catching in his bandit's long coat, more engaged than often, Placido Domingo was an ideal Dick Johnson, introspective but dashing too, and vocally unstinting. He shared the evening with Sherrill Milnes, whose brooding, dapper "sheriffo" was the most compelling performance the baritone has offered in quite some time.
Search by season: 1991-92
Search by title: La Fanciulla del West,
Met careers
- Leonard Slatkin [Conductor]
- Barbara Daniels [Minnie]
- Pl?cido Domingo [Dick Johnson]
- Sherrill Milnes [Jack Rance]
- Michael Forest [Joe]
- Richard Vernon [Handsome]
- Bernard Fitch [Harry]
- Kevin Short [Happy]
- Perry Ward [Sid]
- Bruno Pola [Sonora]
- Charles Anthony [Trin]
- Kim Josephson [Jim Larkens]
- Anthony Laciura [Nick]
- Terry Cook [Jake Wallace]
- Julien Robbins [Ashby]
- Michael Best [Post Rider]
- Vernon Hartman [Castro]
- Hao Jiang Tian [Billy Jackrabbit]
- Sondra Kelly [Wowkle]
- Giancarlo Del Monaco [Production]
- Michael Scott [Designer]
- Gil Wechsler [Lighting Designer]