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 {{ ::fanciulla_1819_hdsynopsis.pdf | cast sheet, La Fanciulla Oct 27, 2018 Crossroads, host Susanna Phillips}}
+A Facebook post:\\
 A nearly flawless Fanciulla: I am in hopes that this year's gorgeous outing with Fanciulla del West will finally do something to put this great opera more regularly on the program. I have loved it the way Dick Johnson loves Minnie-from the very first time I encountered it 'by the wayside,' not thinking it would be anything so remarkable or important. Westbroek had one overstrained high note in Act II, the business of Wowkle and her partner is always egregiously maladroit, and I don't like it that the lovers kind of wander off on foot at the end when they surely should be RIDING into the sunset on fine horses. That's it. Those are my objections. The superb work of the orchestra, with Armiliato's passionately interpreted score - simply incomparable. The men's chorus that opens Act I is a hauntingly nostalgic act of daring - a sort of mass 'steersman's' song about lost home, as in the Flying Dutchman. Never mind those up-to-date grimly 'Unforgiven' western scripts of today - the old fashioned sentiments, the hats clasped over the heart, the shy gift of a nosegay and a ribbon, the verses about forgiveness from Psalm 51 - handled with care by the Met chorus and cast, together with Puccini's eloquent music, make a heartfelt and truly heart touching argument for hope and redemption in a 'godforsaken' place. In minor roles, Todd Simpson, Matthew Rose, Carlo Bosi and Oren Gradus added greatly to the beauty and sincerity of the action. In fine voice, Zeljko Lucic (what was that ridiculous interview about card playing when I wanted to hear how he compares this role with, say, Iago!) Made Jack Rance chillingly believable, isolated and perhaps ultimately lost. Eva Maria Westbroek convinced me completely that she WAS Minnie - from her girlish and heartbreaking expressions of inadequacy to her confident swagger, from her maternal care to her offended outrage to her passionate surrender - so in Minnie's skin! The role is a truly demanding one, and except for that one moment, she met all its requirements with power and beauty as well as delicacy. Kauffmann - well, we have been waiting for him for a while, a wait rewarded by fully met hopes and expectations. The darkness of his voice matched the darkness and edginess of his portrayal - this was no teenager's 'bad boy' hero, but a man truly and desperately at the end of his tether, flirting with hope but actually almost completely mired in despair and self disgust. His history is one of cheap and casual dalliance and despairing acceptance of a criminal career. The voice matches his hunted, haunted, and nearly hopeless emotional tone. As you can see from this review, the opera is as much an ACTING triumph as a SINGING triumph. Puccini's score becomes more and more resonant and moving to me each time I hear it - we hear almost immediately small passages of music that will be come important statements as the work grows and builds, we hear how Puccini has heard, marked and learned from Verdi (Otello) and Wagner, from Impressionists, and also from himself (Tosca). I am so glad I was present for this moment.