LOOKING THE PART

posted by James Reel

Terry Teachout has posted an old thought piece expressing ambivalence over whether or not opera singers should be attractive. This is an old subject I wrote extensively about in the Star more than 10 years ago, and I won’t repeat my whole argument here, but it boils down to this: Those who claim that what’s most important in opera is the music are simply wrong. Opera by design is dramatic stage work, and all elements of the staging, including direction and casting, are every bit as important as the musical element. Singers who don’t look the part don’t belong there. Let them stick to recitals and oratorios and audio recordings. In straight theater, nobody would accept a 300-pound lump in the role of a waif, and it shouldn’t be acceptable in opera, either. (There are good parts available to 300-pound singers, but Cio-Cio San ain’t one of them.) I simply cannot comprehend how there can be any argument about this.