Word: milanov
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Metropolitan Opera (Sat. 2 p.m., ABC). Verdi's Masked Ball, with Peters, Milanov, Tucker...
Overanxious. Although one of the Met's most imposing casts surrounded Contralto Anderson, the performance was full of flaws. Tenor Richard Tucker growled out notes that were too low for him, Soprano Zinka Milanov let her voice swoop and squawk through Act II, and when she flipped a disguising shawl over her face, she looked so much like an animated teacozy that the audience snickered. Only Roberta Peters' pearly coloratura and pert presence were thoroughly pleasant. But for Marian Anderson the evening was a soaring personal triumph. There were eight curtain calls. "Anderson! Anderson!" chanted the standees...
...heroine (plump Soprano Zinka Milanov) acted with all the agility of an animated Epstein statue; one of the heroes (hefty Baritone Leonard Warren) seemed to have heeded to excess Marie Antoinette's famed advice, "Let them eat cake"; and the mob that broke into the Act I chateau seemed neither big nor fierce enough to start a good argument, let alone a revolution. Nevertheless, for anyone with an ear for music and a mind for the elaborate make-believe that is opera, the Met won out handily over its slicked-down and tricked-up competition...
Angel-voiced Soprano Milanov, as Chénier's aristocratic amour, and archangel-voiced Baritone Warren, as a servant turned revolutionary, helped make the Met's Chenier a solid success, but the hit of the evening was Tenor Mario Del Monaco, in the powerful title role. When his time came, he stood back, heaved an enormous breath, spread his arms and let fly with a stunning high B flat that he held until it began to sound as if a phonograph needle was stuck in the groove...
...luckier than the other operatic heroes and seemed to have two women after him, one being the daughter of the king of Egypt. Her name was Blanche Thebom, and she was a looker. The other was not so young, but she certainly could sing. Her name was Zinka Milanov. The young man liked it best in the third scene, where the Egyptians staged a big show with dancing girls. From where he sat, they looked mighty cute and not overdressed, but there were no bumps or grinds. He never did find out whether the boy got one of the girls...