Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>On the other hand, while I may listen enthralled to Placido Domingo, he
>has about as much acting skill as a brick.

Now if you'd said Pavarotti I'd understand that.  Domingo strikes me
as an example of a singer who has used his intelligence (and doubtless
countless video replays) to work hard at his stagecraft over the years,
to the point where he cuts the acting mustard even under less than ideal
circumstances - two day's rehearsal before a major Met revival, or
whatever.

He knows how to keep still.  He knows how to let his voice do the talking.
He knows when and how to underplay, when to cut loose.  He pays attention
to what his fellow performers are singing and thinking.  I'd say that
his Hofmann at Covent Garden (in the late John Schlesinger's matchless
production) was one of the best *acted* performances I've seen on the
opera stage.

Opera acting is of course different from theatre acting (or the film
acting Steve describes).  It's not so subtle, not so wide-ranging, not
so precise.  Nor should it be.  Willard White is a perfectly good opera
actor, though when Trevor Nunn took him as "Othello" with the Royal
Shakespeare Company a few years ago, the difference in kind was embarrassing.
But opera acting does not need to be at that level to be perfectly
acceptable in its own sphere.

OK, I'm biased - Domingo got his stage training as a zarzuela performer,
and was kind enough to do the Foreword for a recent book of mine - but
none the less, I don't think Steve is being fair to his all-round
achievement as a stage artist within his chosen sphere.

The point remains: our over-exposure to the subtler dramatic mediums
has spoilt our pleasure in live theatre opera, and sent us in there
with impossible (and undesirable) expectations of TV-realism.

Christopher Webber, Blackheath, London, UK
http://www.zarzuela.net
"ZARZUELA!" The Spanish Music Site