Word: benaim
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...cajoled into singing about the disfigured "Kleinzach" and then into recounting the stories of these past three loves, now embodied in his present love interest, the opera diva Stella (played alternately by Hilary Snow and K.T. Lawson), who will later be stolen by his enemy Lindorf (Joshua Benaim...
While Shuman sang with a rather pinched upper register and seemed to shout rather than sing--at times reminiscent of Eddie Vedder--he gave a thoughtful and well-acted performance. Corona had a lovely mid-range vibrato, along with some excellent breath control in tricky solos. However, Benaim, a splendid baritone who made another Dunster appearance as a soloist in the December "Messiah," stole the show with his gorgeous interpretation of the sinister machinations of four separate villains. He hammed it up, all the while supporting a richly textured, well-trained voice...
...playing Antonia (Sarita Cannon), the damsel with a voice as clear and melodic as that of her dead mother, whose enormous portrait looms in the family's salon. The only problem is that Antonia's gift is killing her: if she continues to sing, the strain will destroy her. Benaim fills the role of the malevolent physician Dr. Miracle who also arranged the demise of Antonia's mother, urging the daughter to sing and sing until she is prostrate, dying on the davenport, still belting out Hoffmann's and her love song. Cannon is an amazing vocalist, with beautiful phrasing...
...highlight of "The Tales of Hoffmann" was also during this scene, when the show's three strongest singers, Cannon, Benaim, and Tania Mandzy as the apparition of Antonia's mother, sang a lovely, resonant trio, accompanied by a stellar orchestral performance. Particularly noteworthy in Ranalli's orchestra were the surprisingly well-played French horns, bassoons, and harp...
...last of Hoffmann's triad of heartbreaking heroines is the conniving courtesan Giulietta (Heidi Brown). A slave to the evil Dappertutto (again played by Benaim), she tries to steal the soul of Hoffman by capturing his reflection in a mirror. She abandons Hoffmann after he engages in a bloody duel with her wealthy suitor Schlemil (James Capobianco...