Opera will premiere tonight on crutches
mainFrom the Teatro Real, Madrid:
We are very happy to announce that we will have tonight the premiere of a new production of Rusalka.
Unfortunately, the tenor Eric Cutler has broken his Achilles tendon during a rehearsal the day before the General Rehearsal.
Although there is a second cast and also a cover, Christof Loy and Cutler himself have decided to go on, after almost two months of rehearsals together and his debut on this role. So, he will perform tonight with crutches.
Paradoxically, this production was conceived with the character of Rusalka as a lame ballerina.
It shows that an overly-intense preparation of a production can create such a strong identification, that imagined things become real.
(This has especially been a problem with Tristan und Isolde.)
Good for Madrid, good for Eric (a real pro) and good for opera. More, please.
Rusalka isn’t a ballerina. Quit screwing with opera.
I agree. A ballerina on crutches is a plausible topic for a new opera. Someone should write one, rather than impose it on an old opera.
Joyce DiDonato also did the whole of Barber as Rosina in a wheelchair and her foot up in a cast at the Garden. Neil Howlett did both Butterfly and Philip II at ENO with one crutch when he had hurt his back from walking up a flight of stairs dragging a huge heavy train for the first time two days before in a dress rehearsal doing Philip II. Part of being a true professional to get on with it if you can but much harder today when its all scrutinised on line, note by note, and each bar replayed, by the professional armchair experts. Hats off to him in Madrid for carrying on with his best foot and voice forwards!