At the Met’s ‘Cyrano,’ Domingo Fills the Bill
By Philip Kennicott [Washington Post, 15 May 05]
NEW YORK — There’s a line in Act 2 of Franco Alfano’s rarely heard opera “Cyrano de Bergerac” that marks a critical turning point in the sad story of a poet’s unrequited love: “The Tiger’s awakening.” It’s said to Cyrano, the artist with a short temper, a fast sword and an excruciatingly big nose. But it might well stand for the effect tenor Placido Domingo had on audiences Friday night at the Metropolitan Opera when he sang the title role, a new role and the 121st of his exceptionally long and productive career.
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Sprinkled With Fairy Dust
BY JAY NORDLINGER [NY Sun, 16 May 05]
The rule at the Metropolitan Opera seems to be, “Whatever Placido wants, Placido gets.” It has been that way for many years. The rule – if it is a rule – is a good one: The opera-going public has been the beneficiary. Three seasons ago, Mr. Domingo brought “Sly” to the Met, in a production fashioned by his wife, Marta. “Sly” is an opera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, and it’s not an immortal one, but they don’t all have to be, and “Sly” proved worth knowing.
On Friday night, Mr. Domingo starred in Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” which was receiving its U.S. premiere. It, too, is worth knowing, and has provided Mr. Domingo – and others – a bona fide hit.
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Long-Nosed but Handy With a Pen and a Song
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI [NY Times, 16 May 05]
Music historians who have been poised to rewrite, if necessary, the chronicle of 20th-century opera, can relax. The Metropolitan Opera’s first production of Franco Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” which the company asserts is the North American premiere of this almost unknown 1936 work, opened on Friday night. It is no unjustly neglected masterpiece. It is not even an especially good opera.
But thanks to a vibrant production by the director Francesca Zambello, an admirable cast and, especially, the impassioned portrayal of the title role by Plácido Domingo, “Cyrano de Bergerac” does prove an engaging entertainment. The Met agreed to present this opera, a co-production with Covent Garden in London, at the behest of Mr. Domingo, who wanted to make Cyrano the 121st role of his career.
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Cyrano de Bergerac, Metropolitan Opera, New York
By Martin Bernheimer [Financial Times, 16 May 05]
You know the old refrain. “Whatever Pláci wants, Pláci gets . . .” Friday night at the Metropolitan Opera, Plácido Domingo got to rhapsodise through an inflated proboscis, pine for an elusive love, swagger, stagger and die always beautifully on behalf of good old, self-sacrificing Cyrano de Bergerac. The esoteric vehicle, completed by Franco Alfano in 1936 and, it is claimed, never before performed in North America, was exhumed for the overachieving tenorissimo at the twilight of his singing career. Now 64 (iconoclasts still debate the official statistic), he will no doubt flourish as impresario, conductor and badness knows what else long after his vocal cords have rusted.
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In twilight, Domingo has a nose for glory
BY MARION LIGNANA ROSENBERG [Newsday, 17 May 05]
“Panache” is the last word uttered by Cyrano de Bergerac in Edmond Rostand’s play and Franco Alfano’s opera. Usually understood as “verve” or “theatricality,” it derives from terms denoting both a writer’s quill and the plumes on a cavalier’s hat, hinting at the self-referential sophistication of the tale of the long-nosed swordsman and poet.
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