Word: coloraturas
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Melba (Horizon; United Artists) treats of the life & loves of the late great Coloratura Soprano Nellie Melba (real name: Nellie Mitchell), after whom Melba toast and the peach Melba were named. It is a rich, creamy, Technicolored movie biography that consists of a series of arias, as Mme. Melba moves from one operatic triumph to another. The songs are imbedded in a fictionalized, soggily romantic yarn about the men in the diva's life: her Australian husband (John McCallum), who walked out on her (in real life, Melba left him and their child to take up an operatic career...
Married. Mattiwilda Dobbs, 27 coloratura soprano of Atlanta, Ga., who last month became the first Negro ever to win a principal role at La Scala opera house (TIME, March 16); and Luis Rodriguez Garcia de la Piedra, 30, Spanish journalist; in Genoa, Italy...
...finest opera boufle tradition of that period, as exemplified, for example, in Cosi fan Tutti. Yet if Mozart is not advanced in comparison, Gretry's music must be adjudged an effective and delightful score. The characters are given subtle musical characterizations, there are some hilarious ensembles, and the coloratura has ample opportunity to show off her best...
...Lincoln Kirstein, boss man at City Center, knew the company of young singers were willing to tackle anything, even coloratura. Moreover, Kirstein himself is tiring of the heavy melodrama of Verdi and the heavy orchestras of Wagner. He is betting that the future lies with compositions that combine high spirits and vocal acrobatics. He decided that Cenerentola might help him test his theory...
...with Trills. The test could hardly have pleased Lincoln Kirstein more. Mezzo-Soprano Bible, whose best roles heretofore have been a couple of light-hearted male impersonations (Cherubino in Figaro, Octavian in Rosertkavalier), never looked prettier. She trilled out her coloratura passages like a flute, and also shook the rafters with a few stunning fortissimos. Baritone George Gaynes, who is Rosalind Russell's leading man in Broadway's Wonderful Town, took a night off to play the part of the prince's scene-stealing valet, and indulge in some jaunty clowning. Biggest joke of all was John...