Jay Hunter Morris (pictured left, photograph by Photografeo Pty Ltd.) will replace Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab in San Francisco Opera's Moby-Dick, which opens on October 10, 2012. Originally scheduled to sing the last three performances, Morris will now sing all eight. Heppner has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons.
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Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
4 responses to “Casting Change for SF Opera’s Moby-Dick”
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“Personal reasons” my foot, not that I have any inside information.
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Woo-hoo! Woo-Hoo! WOO-HOO!!!!!!! (Can you tell I am excited?) ♥ R ♥
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When I saw Ben Heppner on the cast list for “Moby-Dick” I said to myself ‘there’s no way he’s going to end up being in the production. I don’t even know why they put him in the brochure.’
It seemed almost delusional on the part of SF Opera given his history of withdrawing from productions and the poor state of his voice. I have memories of his withdrawal from “Otello” in SF, another time I said to myself ‘there’s no way he can sing it or will sing.’
The fact is that his voice is just not there (I heard him sing Gherman in “Pikovaya Dama” at the Met in 2009, and it was not good). Perhaps it’s time he retired from the stage and focus on recitals.
He reminds me of Jane Eaglen, another somewhat overrated Wagnerian. Though I only heard her late in her stage career (a “Turandot” a decade ago in SF) I found her voice frumpy and without lyricism though incredibly powerful. She fared lightyears better as Senta for the SF Symphony (MTT did wonders with her).
Heppner’s voice at the Met was the same for me: frumpy to which I’d add labored and thin.
Jay Hunter Morris will be great. I rather enjoyed his SF Siegfried.LikeLike
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Jay Hunter Morris is amazing, I think this will be a good change.
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