Newsflash

Via The Australian. After nineteen years on the board of Opera Australia, Rowena Danziger is standing down. Details of this and other outcomes of Thursday's AGM in Melbourne here.

From the linked article:

"I felt strongly that with the appointment of a new artistic director, you have to have board members who own that decision," the philanthropist and former girls school principal says. "The new (board) people can't be in a position where they might say: 'This was a decision that was made by somebody else."'

Comments

[wanderer]

Could that be fresh air I whiff?

[Thom]

I'm waiting for Marcellous's reaction!

[Sarah]

Me too, I half expected him to beat me to the news.

[Operalad]

Completely OT, but:

Of Mice and Men: OA 2011. Sydney, Mid year and Melbourne Nov, Dec. Beresford to direct. Cast as yet undecided, but approaches have been made.

[Sarah]

So it's official. Excellent. I'll add it to the Futures page. Thanks for that, this kind of off-topic is always welcome!

[Operalad]

Probably more like "tentatively official". Certainly there are plans afoot and some cast members have been asked to "pencil in" the appropriate Syd and Mel. periods.

[Sarah]

Tentatively will do me for now. Similar principal line-up to Streetcar (minus YK) do you think?

[david]

I smell and detect Stuart Skelton and Antoinette Halloran for Of Mice and Men which would in my humble opinion be perfect casting!!!

[Sarah]

That's my suspicion too. I still think Stella is far and away the best thing Antoinette's done for OA. And Stuart is always a Good Thing!

[Operalad]

Sounds convincing. Who for George? TTR is clearly too good-looking, after all, it was Burgess Meredith that shared the screen honours with Lon Chainey originally, no?

Don't know the opera at all well, but don't remember there being a YK appropriate part.

Antoinette must surely be the first thought for Curly's wife.

I remember Bruce B being quoted somewhere (perhaps here on PLMPLP, Sarah) as saying that he thought that Anthony Dean Griffey was the best Lenny he'd ever experienced.

Wonder if OA have Griffey in the frame?

[Sarah]

I don't know the opera at all but I'm sure there's no YK role (hence "minus"). And even if there was... I'm not really sure 20th century American opera is her forte, Blanche or no Blanche.

I checked the Beresford quote, it was Griffey's Grimes that he said was the best he'd seen (well, since Vickers) but he did then go on to say that he wanted Griffey for Lenny. We shall see. (Article here, by the way: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25090882-15089,00.html)

As for George, didn't you suggest Barry Ryan a while ago? I agree he'd make more sense visually than Teddy. But now that you've mentioned Burgess Meredith, all I can think about is the Penguin...

[Operalad]

I remember now. Yes, quite right. I think Barry Ryan would be perfect. He was also excellent a while ago in Summer of 17th Doll (albeit back in his days as a Tenor). Thanks for the mental image of Lenny and the "Penguin" on the banks of the river! Indelible.

I think that you're also right about YK and 20th C American opera. She was truly a fragile and perfectly aged Blanche (aged in the fine wine sense) but there is also a little bit of the "Patrician" in YK that I think the best of American opera tends to eschew.

As regards the Beresford quote, we shall see on more than one front I guess, what with Skelton as Grimes in Syd in Oct (and very soon at ENO from his website) and perhaps as Lenny in 2011. Would be something of a coup to have Griffey engaged by OA, though.

[Sarah]

Sigh. Peter Grimes. It's second only to Manon Lescaut on my most-anticipated of 2009 list, as dangerous as such anticipation is. But Britten, Armfield, Wigglesworth, Skelton, Gritton, Coleman-Wright... any way you look at it, it all adds up to Good.

Yvonne was indeed a beautiful Blanche. I was at every performance (and the final dress) and it was exhausting but pretty wonderful, terrible mad scene wig and my own waning affection for the opera itself notwithstanding. I have it half in mind to make the trip to Melbourne in December in closing night, if only to hear her sing the words "merciless glare" one more time — that was always my favourite bit, not sure why. Well, that and "I can smell the sea air", of course.

Meanwhile, perhaps we need a whole Batman opera. In which case, Penguin = Warwick Fyfe. Robin is obviously a mezzo travesti role - Catherine Carby? And Milijana Nikolic for Catwoman. The title role is harder to cast, what opera singer could rival the mighty Adam West?

[Operalad]

and how does one sing: POW! OOF! ZAP! ?

I always liked: "Real? Who wants real? I want Magic!"

Adam West would have to be PCW.

God, how deliciously camp. Batman (the 60's series!!!) as an Opera!

Bravo!

[Sarah]

PCW as Adam West! Brilliant! I love it.

[david]

For those who may be interested in Mice and Men, here is the list of characters and voice type required for the opera. What is interesting is that it requires the vocal prowess of at least 5 principal singers. Therefore, the possibilities for who will be cast for the male roles are quite intriguing and (with the exception of Ms Halloran who I will lay money on being Curley's wife) could come from quite an array of singers: Barry Ryan, Peter Coleman-Wright, Teddy Tahu-Rhodes, Jose Carbo, Stuart Skelton and so forth.

The link below gives a nice synopsis of the opera itself.

http://www.jdlh.palo-alto.ca.us/pr/micemen_floyd/synopsis.html

Lenny: tenor
George: baritone
Curley: tenor
Curley’s Wife: soprano
Slim: baritone
Carlson: tenor
Ballad Singer: tenor
Ranch Hands (at least 8): male chorus

[Bonjour]

Danziger's resignation is great news! More changes were needed though. New members should have been nominated on artistic director selection committee.

[Sarah]

David, you are right about OA having a good pool of male talent to cast from, not just the bigger names but the supporting roles and chorus as well. It's probably no coincidence that two of the company's most impressive performances lately have been Billy Budd and Lady M of M, both of which drew significantly on a lot of the fabulous male singers (ensemble and associate artists) at their disposal.
I was having the same thought the other night while watching Janacek's From the House of the Dead on DVD - that's definitely something I think they could do brilliantly here. In an Armfield production, of course...