Last Thursday.
Casting. How does it work?
Bear in mind that the Royal Opera House is one of the very top opera houses in the world. All the top singers sing there, not necessarily every season, but frequently.
Of course, none of the top houses can fill the casts for all the different productions with the dozen or score of top top top singers, but one would think they would choose singers who could actually manage to sing the roles.
So, we had a Renato (Dalibor Jenis) and an Oscar who only really sounded good in comparison to the rest, and probably would have sounded just ordinary alongside decent singers. We had an Amelia, Angela Marambio with an ugly voice. I heard her squawk, the man in front of me moved his arm up and down like a piston every time she missed a note, two blokes on the terrace in the interval were cruelly but amusingly mimicing her. Other people heard the same on different nights. But yet no one in the actual Royal Opera House noticed? We had an Ulrica, Elena Manistina who was all over the place.
And, finally, we had Mr Stand-In Tenor, Roberto Aronica. Ramón Vargas had called in sick, and, frankly, who wants to be near a Mexican with a cold. So Aronica was flown in that morning to substitute. I am very forgiving of Mr (or Ms) Stand-In. They haven't been to rehearsals of that particular production, so can be forgiven for not knowing the blocking. They may never have met their co-principal, so can be forgiven for an absence of chemistry and spontaneity. They may be unfamiliar with that theatre and almost certainly have no recent knowledge, so may take time to acclimatise.
But, I do expect them to be able to sing the part. Ultimately I don't care if they do so from the wings or the pit, reading from a score on a music stand. And he was poor.
I am not sure what the ROH does regarding covers. They must expect that any one of the cast could go off sick, at short notice, on any given occasion. It's easier if they're running two casts, or at least, have someone who is already scheduled for a couple of performances.
The New York Met retains singers to 'cover' every role, just in case. I think they more or less have to in New York because of the distances involved in flying someone decent in from elsewhere, so I suppose it works there (although management there seems still to want to use a 'name' who may be in rehearsal or passing through or whatever, if possible).
I can't say I would like that system in London; who wants to hear someone who isn't judged good enough even to get a couple of performances scheduled, or to be engaged by a provincial house. And, yet, they can't keep decent singers on stand-by, just in case. So I appreciate that it isn't an easy problem to solve.
Maybe I would have been more forgiving of the tenor if there had been someone in the cast whose singing had been worth the price of the ticket - Dalibor Jenis's Eri Tu was gorgeous, and Anna Christy was chirpy and tuneful throughout.
But it's one of my favourite operas. It wasn't even like I was hoping or expecting it to be as gorgeous as the two versions on DVD (ROH 1975 and Salzburg 1990), I mean, come on. But I had seen this production in its initial run with Alvarez, Mattila, Hampson et al, and its early revival with Margison, Stemme and Hvorostovsky, both of which were all round good casts. Whereas this, it was provincial and aurally painful.
Fortunately, the conductor, Maurizio Benini, was sensitive to the score and the orchestra was on good form, so I did enjoy the evening, on balance. Gorgeous music.
There were a lot of early departures, and I did consider being one, but I did feel that I had paid a lot for my seat (although only half the price of the seat I eventually sat in!). I was glad I stayed until the end (although I was out the door as soon as the curtain came down).
With an influx of visitors from overseas, it was amusing irritating to witness applause before the end of an aria (note: that comes after the singer finishes), applause for the curtain descending, and, of course, applause for the scenery. Thankfully, as there weren't any stars in it, I didn't also have to endure the applause of the star(s)' entrance(s).
