Word: verrette
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...Scala opened with Macbeth, considered one of its best new productions. Typically, the company offered a cast of Italian and non-Italian singers, notably Italy's Piero Cappuccilli as Macbeth, the U.S.'s Shirley Verrett as Lady Macbeth and Bulgaria's Nicolai Ghiaurov as Banquo. On the podium was Claudio Abbado, the company's former music director who, at 43, is a conductor of international stature. The production was conceived and staged by Italy's Giorgio Strehler (see box). For Strehler, it was one of three moments in the spotlight. His staging of Figaro...
...left-to-right stroll on a narrow ledge. The only problem is that Verdi was not interested in a high-wire act-Bellini took care of that very nicely in La Sonnambula-but in the play of Lady Macbeth's bloodstained hands. As Strehler directs her, Lady Macbeth (Verrett) has plenty of trouble keeping her balance, but in the wrong...
...Were Verrett the Lady Macbeth many had anticipated, perhaps Strehler's mannered direction would have been less bothersome. Both visually and vocally, Verrett conveyed little of Shakespeare's "fiendlike queen." Verdi wanted Lady Macbeth to be "twisted and ugly" and to sing with a "raw, choked, hollow voice." That may be asking too much. But Verrett's bland, unchanging facial expression and her constant concern-except in the sleepwalking scene, her best musical moment-with polished tone did not begin to get inside a character that is more important to the opera than Macbeth...
...most radiant and musical of prima donnas. The dilemmas that Pamira finds herself in would try even Aida, and Sills rose to them all. Briefly, Pamira loves Maometto (Bass Justino Diaz), the leader of the attacking Turks. Her father wants her to marry the Greek warrior Neocle (Mezzo Verrett...
...kept good company. Verrett, singing her first bel canto opera at the Met, was emphatic and secure as Neocle. It is a so-called pants role, written originally by Rossini for contralto, but later rescored for tenor in deference to the historic Parisian insistence that men are men and women are women. Today, the role could be sung by either tenor or contralto. The female version is more elaborate, and Conductor Schippers prefers it. Decked out in armor and an elegant Zachary Scott mustache, Verrett moved enough like a man to make the impersonation halfway acceptable. Hers...