Graham, as I mention above, these days two of the casting decisions made when putting an opera production together, in addition to a particular singer's vocal ability, are: do they look the part? And can they act?

The soprano with the big, powerful voice, but who is built like a pouter pigeon, is not going to be cast as an ingénue these days. The late Maria Callas lost a lot of parts when she bloated into a tub. She just wasn't being cast for the kind of parts she used to sing, so she went on a diet, slimmed down, and started getting the parts back. Lesson learned.

Just a point: some decades back, Mario Lanza was cast as the lead in the movie version of "The Student Prince" (1954). He cut the voice tracks for the movie, but was told by the studio execs that he had to loose weight. He had ballooned up to about 300 pounds. They weren't about to have this 300 pound globule of suet appearing as the handsome young prince, no matter how beautifully he sang. Lanza refused. So they dropped him and cast the slim, good-looking Edmund Purdom in the role. Purdom lip-synced to Lanza's voice tracks. This incident pretty much ended Lanza's movie career.

Granted, this was a Hollywood movie, but the same kind of casting decisions are being made by opera companies these days. Singers like Luciano Pavarotti (who, when he sings the young hippie poet, Rodolpho, in La Bohème tends to stretch credibility a bit, even if he does sing magnificently) are being "grandfathered" out. These days, you are more likely to see someone like Jerry Hadley singing roles like that.

In the Wagner Ring Cycle (four very long operas about—what!??—a stolen "ring of power" with a curse on it. Different story, similar maguffin), the Valkyrie, Brunhilde is usually depicted in cartoons as a very large woman carrying a spear and a shield, wearing wings on her helmet and a iron brassiere. There used to be some basis for this stereotype. But the last production I saw of it on television (Live from the Met, I think), the role of Brunhilde was sung by a tall, slender, very good-looking red-head. In addition to having the big voice required for the role, she looked very convincing as a warrior maiden.

These days opera singers have to have a) the voice, b) the looks, and c) the ability to act if they want to get the roles. If they have the voice, but not the looks or the ability to act, they have to be content with a recital career rather than opera. But even in recitals, being able to act with their voices—sing with emotion—is essential.

The times they are a-changin'.

Don Firth