Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Clive Bayley lost his voice during last Saturday's opening performance of the new Lucia di Lammermoor production at ENO. His understudy, Paul Whelan, sang from the side of the stage as Bayley mouthed the words and acted.
I've experienced something like this only once, at Bayerische Staatsoper's staged production of the oratorio Saul. David Daniels took ill, so Brian Asawa sang his part from the pit as the stage director acted the part on stage.
Hi there, I am the North American Press Representative for the Bayerische Staatsoper and I think your Blog is great.I especially enjoyed the reference to lip-synching incident in the BStO’s production of Handel’s “Saul and David” when Sir Peter Jonas was intendant in Munich, a time of Baroque splendor. Please add me to your mailing list for the future. Helen Kamioner
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Thanks! I learned a lot from going to BSO, and I think fondingly on that particular performance. Amusingly, Brian Asawa and I are from the same state, but I never heard him until that moment.
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I was at the Seattle Ring in 2001, when Alan Woodrow severed a quadriceps tendon. He sang Siegfried in the first cycle while seated by the side of the stage; Richard Berkeley-Steele ran about the stage acting the part.
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Goodness, that doesn’t sound pleasant at all, poor Woodrow. Did it work out dramatically or was it a distraction?
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Somewhat distracting, but he’s a good singer, so it was worth it.
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The Opera Tattler 
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