Scraping the bottom of the Volpe barrel, the Met threw together a gala performance of three acts from three different operas to showcase the vocal talents of Ms. Netrebko (Trebs) and Mr. Villazon (Viz) — T&V for short, henceforth. A friend was recently asking me what "Opera Hot" means. Well, if you look at the above photo, you'll get an idea. Yes, Trebs is a looker, if you enjoy looking at those sorts of things. But those eyebrows on Viz aren't very attractive, and yet he's considered the hot Mexican enchilada in the opera world. Which is strange, I might add, since if you're searching for pretty Mexican tenors, I'd take Ramon Vargas any day over him, and even he doesn't hold a candle to that other Mexican, Domingo.
The singing was all in all quite good, but the bar is a bit low for these two, since they're opera hot and can sell out a house like no one's business. A ticket to the Dec. 5 "Boheme" (featuring T&V) this past fall was harder to get than an STD in a convent. For the gala, they repeated their Act I romantic fireworks from "Boheme," with Viz supplying an excellent "Che gelida manina" that brought down the house. Then Act III, scene 2 from "Manon" gave him a chance to just whip it like a bad boy, a Maurice (!) Chevalier des Grieux dressed as a priest. Sorry, couldn't resist ... it rhymes, in a way. Then Trebs threw herself on the floor and wailed a few French lines, recalling her "Puritani" mad scene (also from December). I'm getting the sense that she sings better while lying down. Then a brief intermission, and the entire second act of John Copley's garish production of "Elisir d'Amour," fully staged and fully entertaining. But the voices seemed to be tired by this point, and Trebs didn't come close to Ruth Ann Swenson's Adina from last season. A full-throttled Viz delivered a hearty "Una furtiva lagrima," sustaining l-o-o-o-o-o-ng notes for the final few bars, bringing down the house again.
But the one standout for the entire evening was Mariusz Kweicien, a young baritone who sang Marcello in the "Boheme" and Belcore in the "Elisir." I forgot who was doing what whenever he took to the stage. His voice is commanding and more than pleasant to the ear. For the first time ever, I wished Adina would just forget Nemorino and run off with the captain. And as for opera hot, well, his sizzle doesn't fizzle.
But back to Viz's eye shingles. If one of the hair dressers at the Met could get one of the stagehands to pin him down for a shave, or at least a plucking, they could harvest enough follicles to make yet another wig for Millo, when she triumphs in her final performance ever at the Met (?) as Maddalena on April 14. Or maybe she could borrow one of Botha's?
