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Friday, October 02, 2009

Speculation Welcome

Dallas Opera is one of the co-commissioners of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's opera Moby-Dick. Here's the cast list:
Ben Heppner* (Captain Ahab); Morgan Smith* (Starbuck); Stephen Costello (Greenhorn); Jonathan Lemalu* (Queequeg); Allan Glassman (Flask); Robert Orth* (Stubb); Talise Trevigne* (Pip); and Jonathan Beyer* (Captain Gardiner).

An asterisk means the singer is making his or her (Talise Trevigne, soprano, presumably playing a young boy) Dallas Opera debut.

Now, I've read Melville's great novel twice (in adulthood, voluntarily, with deep pleasure). There's a character who launches the novel with the most famous first line in literary history: "Call me Ishmael."

Take another look at the cast list. Post your thoughts here.

7 comments:

  1. La Trevigne's Biggest FanOctober 2, 2009 at 9:00:00 AM PDT

    Whe the dazzling soprano Talsie Trevigne creates the role of Pip, the African-American cabin boy, she will be singing the very first "pants role" of her stellar career.
    She was persoanlly choosen by the production team and Maestrp Patrick Summers for this pivotal part.
    Ms. trevigne will be the ONLY female singer in teh cast!

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  2. La Trevigne's Biggest FanOctober 2, 2009 at 9:02:00 AM PDT

    Sorry for the typos. Here it is again. Please post the correct version!
    ===================================
    When the dazzling soprano Talise Trevigne creates the role of Pip, the African-American cabin boy, she will be singing the very first "pants role" of her stellar career.
    She was personally chosen by the production team and Maestro Patrick Summers for this pivotal part.
    Ms. Trevigne will be the ONLY female singer in the cast!

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  3. Gee. Omniscient invisible-and-offstage narrator? James Earl Jones?

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  4. Biggest Fan: I figured "teh" was deliberate. ;-) I don't have comment moderation turned on, so both your comments are up now. (The interested can hear samples of Ms. Trevigne on her management company's web site. Lovely instrument, indeed.)

    D., I doubt that is what we'll see/hear.

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  5. La Trevigne's Biggest FanOctober 2, 2009 at 11:54:00 AM PDT

    Yes Lisa, especially the new clips from her recital with Warren Jones. Sheer perfection!

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  6. Looks like they disposed of the role of Ishmael.

    I would have hoped for a baritone or bass in the role of Ahab, but maybe I'm biased ;-)

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  7. I'm with you on that. Ben Heppner is a great singer, but Ahab is so obviously a bass role!

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