"Alain Zürcher" wrote:
> However, the pants roles are a convention. As soon as the audience see a
> girl in pants, it probably assumes that the character is a boy. It might not
> be necessary to overact as a boy... though it is always funny to watch!
As an opera-goer, I have to disagree. I went to a Giulio Cesare done at The
Washington
Opera this season. There was quite a contrast in the stage demeanor of two
women singing
men - the soprano singing Sextus, a teenage boy; and the mezzo singing Cesare.
The former
was believable as a young man - both in the impetuosity of the character, but
also in the
assertiveness of her movement. However the mezzo singing Cesare didn't make me
believe
for even the tiniest moment that this was a man, much less a military warrior
and
world-conqueror. Her small size and incredible beauty didn't help, but mainly
it was her
delicacy of movement. This was an especially ineffective physical portrayal
because of
the wonderful movement of the countertenor that sang Tolomeo, who looked and
moved as
macho as they come (think Yul Brynner as the King of Siam).
I also have adored the "trousers" performances I've seen of Suzanne Mentzer
(Cherubino and
Niklausse) and Susan Graham (Octavian), and found their convincing non-female
stage
movement to be a great asset (I can still see in my mind's eye Suzanne Mentzer
as
Cherubino sitting in the big chair and swinging her legs in Act I like a bored
adolescent!). In both cases, I believed these were young men (even though both
singers
are lovely women and their beauty was not hidden by their costuming).
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
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