Word: manon
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...first to combine postfeminist independence with old-fashioned glamour. In person, Fleming comes across as cheerful and unassuming; onstage, she is one of the most vividly expressive personalities ever to take an opera-house curtain call. Appearing this fall in the Met's production of Manon, she bewitched audiences and critics alike with her compelling portrayal of the title character, a teenage girl who escapes from a convent, sets up shop as a courtesan, jilts her wealthy lover, seduces a priest and cuts a wide swath through Parisian high society before crashing and burning in the fifth...
Part of Fleming's success comes from dedicated preparation. A passionate fan of Golden Age opera recordings, she listened to 24 versions of Manon while studying for the part. And she is just as devoted to her family, taking her daughters, ages 2 and 5, with her to every engagement. "They both went on their first trips with me when they were about a month old," she says...
...chooses his approach. ``I am a different director in Europe from America,'' he says. Especially in Germany, land of state subsidies and a public that may have seen 50 versions of Figaro, he may go the experimental route. In Bonn in April, for instance, he will produce a Manon Lescaut inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. In the U.S., where opera must pay for itself, companies can rarely afford productions that may be one-year sensations. When Met general manager Joseph Volpe ordered up Butterfly, he wanted a show that could be admired for as long as its predecessor...
...chooses his approach. "I am a different director in Europe from America," he says. Especially in Germany, land of state subsidies and a public that may have seen 50 versions of Figaro, he may go the experimental route. In Bonn in April, for instance, he will produce a Manon Lescaut inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. In the U.S., where opera must pay for itself, companies can rarely afford productions that may be one-year sensations. When Met general manager Joseph Volpe ordered up Butterfly, he wanted a show that could be admired for as long as its predecessor...
...Sulpice scene from Manon, a passionate encounter between lovers in a monastery, brings on the prima donna ``Vera Galupe-Borszkh,'' a.k.a. ``La Dementia.'' Wearing a colossal red fright wig and more lipstick than Lucille Ball, she commands the stage like Bette Midler on Benzedrine, casting her stratospheric soprano to the bleachers as it veers between ear-splitting fortissimos and never-ending pianissimos...