Steve Schwartz:

>Richard Todd asks:
>
>>I wonder why opera on video has never entirely caught on?
>
>Gee.  Do you think it might be because most opera singers are unmusical
>and act at a level that would disgrace a high-school pageant?

Unmusical, I'm not sure, but many of those I've seen are indeed not great
actors.  Some are able to offer good dramatic performance though: Placido
Domingo or Siegfried Jerusalem (his Loge with the MET in particular) come
to mind.  Other names?

Speaking of Sinopoli and opera on video, there is another recording I
would suggest: his Met debut in Tosca.  His conducting is fresh and
energic, but thank goodness, without the heavy and some times elephantine
fortissimo of Levine.  Ironically, the singers in this performance
(Domingo as Cavarodossi, Behrens as Tosca, Macneil as Scarpia, etc.)
are dramatically...  quite good!  They all make a good job vocally also,
although I would not say Behrens is among the greatest Toscas.

Paul MacKay
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