2) The Last Scene. In the final twenty-some minutes of Thaïs, with the touching “Baigne d’eau tes mains” duet, the vol de nuit orchestral interlude, and the shrewdly written Death of Thaīs (anguished for him, transcendent for her), even a mediocre performance can pay off. But the staging of the Death, ridiculous nine years ago and ridiculous now, seems deliberately contrived to choke off any emotional realization. Thaïs, wrapped in white as if already mummified, sits on her slightly elevated chair and sings, while Athanaël flounders about below. Ashamed of salvific melodrama, I guess. A complete cop-out on the possibilities of the scene, and the coup de grace for the evening.

3) In Between: Any help for the leading lady. She’s required to make her entrance (according to all report, an indelible moment in any Garden performance) and toss a few petals to no one in particular from one downstage end of a stage-spanning ramp on a set that evokes Miami Beach Moderne, c. 1950. She’s also made to get into the costumes specially designed for Fleming by Christian Lacroix. Except for the last-scene mummywrap, they looked charming, though not daring, on Fleming. They were unflattering on Peréz, who, I am confident, could look pretty good.

I could tell you a bit about the conducting of Emmanuel Villaume, neither ruinous nor very helpful, but I’m tired. The Meditation was played with precise pitch and refinement, if not the richest of tone, by David Chan, bringing us as close as we came to a Zilio-like suspended moment of  presence. The wanderings in and out of orchestral players—not between scenes or during applause after numbers, but during the music and inclusive of late arrivals after intermission, complete with glowing devices—were extremely distracting. Back in the day, even players returning from offstage duties managed to be unobtrusive about it. This has gotten worse and worse in recent seasons, but this (the performance of Nov. 15) was the nadir in my experience.

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Corrections and Follow-Ups: I’ve received some useful and interesting notations from two colleagues, Matthew Gurewitsch and Will Crutchfield, concerning my last posts on Norma. But due to a last-minute technical glitch, I’m unable to include them, together with my responses, here. Rather than delay publication any further, I’ll save them till:

NEXT TIME: On the next post, Fri., Dec. 22,  I will continue with the second in my occasional series on the influences on modern vocality. I am still mulling the many choices, but am presently inclined to discussing aspects of internet habituation. Thanks to all for reading.

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