Word: capobianco
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...shimmering new Hoffmann that Director Tito Capobianco has conceived and staged for the New York City Opera, it is neither the tenor nor the soprano who steals the show. Instead it is the bass, who plays the four incarnations of the devil. No surprise, since the roles are sung by that master of operatic guises and disguises Norman Treigle. By design, and also by the sheer magic of Treigle's acting, this Hoffmann is a black comedy that belongs-curly locks, shtik and fiddle-to the devil...
...Capobianco has accomplished this first of all with some visual (but never spoken) additions to the plot that enable not just Lindorf but Coppelius, Dappertutto and Dr. Miracle as well -all played by Treigle-to win the girls that Hoffmann loses. The first act, for example, usually ends with Coppelius seeming to dismantle the doll Olympia before Hoffmann's horrified eyes. He does so in the new production, but then Coppelius and a happy flesh-and-blood Olympia (Soprano Beverly Sills) are seen embracing behind a curtain. Obviously the girl is part poltergeist, too, and in league with Lucifer...
...star of opening night's new production of Bellini's bel canto classic Norma. Though Sutherland did not warm up until after her cruel Act I setpiece Casta Diva, she has rarely sung as passionately or been so actively involved in the dramatic proceedings. Under Tito Capobianco's ingenious direction, Sutherland clearly dramatized the two sides of Norma's often enigmatic personality-severe and stately as the imperious high priestess of the Druids, yielding, even frantic as a woman in love with, and ready to kill for, a Roman proconsul (Tenor John Alexander...
...canto opera puts everyone to the test, including the audience. Norma, for example, is one of those static abstracts that-like most neo-Roman architecture-more often command respect than love. That Sutherland, Capobianco and Designer José Verona could infuse it with any passion at all was testimony to the peculiar alchemy of opera when it is defying both the gods and the arts...
...moments, and this may be one reason why Beverly drives herself so unremittingly in her career. For her, performing is not only a fulfillment of her aspirations to artistic excellence, not only an outlet for her avidly competitive desire to come out on top, but also a balm. Tito Capobianco has always been struck by the way she actually seems to yearn for the stage. Mama knows why. "When Beverly gets onstage," she says, "all her worries are behind...