Tag Archives: Andriana Chuchman steps in for Anna Netrebko

L’Elisir D’Amore — A Star is Born

Last year we did not see the Bartlett Sher production of L’Elisir D’Amore with Anna Netrebko because we are idiots. We decided to rectify that mistake and see the revival also with Netrebko this year and bought tickets for its opening night.

I’ve seen Netrebko in the Willy Decker version of La Traviata thanks to youtube, but the only time the better-half and I saw her live was in this season’s dismal Eugene Onegrin, known in our house as Six Singers Flailing on a Stage in Search of a Production. So we thought it would be great to see her in a role in which she’d triumphed, in a production that actually had a director.

Not keeping up on all the gossip, we didn’t know that Netrebko was out with the flu and we’d be watching the Met debut of Andriana Chuchman. Fortunately, the Met knew, and Chuchman had been at the dress rehearsal. All we knew was what was on the note inserted in our Playbill. Someone we’d never heard of would be making her Met debut in a role we’d come to hear the sweetheart of the Metropolitan sing.

Pressure much?

The better-half who is also the nicer-half made it clear that unless she was terrible he planned to applaud her very loudly.

She started off a little soft and drowned out by the orchestra. It didn’t seem like she had the vocal power for the house, but then Continue reading L’Elisir D’Amore — A Star is Born