Word: norma
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...Sound & the Fury. In Des Moines, bogged down in a line of autos, Motorist Norma Bailey leaned long on her horn, then watched as a man got out of the car ahead, calmly raised her vehicle's hood, disconnected the horn wires, got back in his car and drove...
...histrionics as history, it supplied Actress Katharine Cornell with a dashingly theatrical vehicle when she first played it on Broadway in 1931. Since then she has revived it twice on Broadway, besides road tours and a TV version. The present movie version is the second (the 1934 film starred Norma Shearer). It is still the romantic period piece it was, and though it seems a little tired for having been around so long, there is no apparent reason why it should not still attract large audiences. As the father, Sir John Gielgud is unrelentingly grim; as Browning, Bill Travers...
Giant Guitar. Bellini's Norma, which Callas had chosen for her New York de but, is a second-rate work. It is a rare operatic phenomenon in that the libretto is not much sillier than the score. The story takes place during the Roman occupation of Gaul. Norma is a Druid high priestess, who, though pledged to virginity in the service of the moon goddess, has borne two children of the Roman proconsul. When he casts her off for another Druid priestess, Norma arouses the local underground against him. But in the end she repents, publicly confesses her sins...
...energetic Met production, robust Tenor Mario del Monaco as Norma's lover sang loud enough to be heard from Gaul to Rome, and Mezzo-Soprano Fedora Barbieri, as Norma's rival, was adequate though often wobbly. Since she looks much the way Callas did before her celebrated slimming down, it was hard to see why the Roman governor would prefer her to Norma. But none of this mattered much with Callas on stage. As an actress, unlike most of her competitors, Callas radiates credibility even in the silliest situations. Her performance is not a mere recital with costumes...
...middle registers she sang with flutelike purity, tender and yet sharply disciplined, and in the upper reaches-shrill or not-she flashed a swordlike power that is already legend. In one of the repertory's most strenuous roles-Prima Donna Lilli Lehmann called Norma tougher than all three Briinnhildes-the Callas voice rose from her slender frame with dazzling endurance. No doubt, other great operatic sopranos can coax out of their ample, placid figures tones that esthetes call more beautiful. But just as the greatest beauties among women do not usually have flawlessly symmetrical features, the greatest voices...