First this reviewer must say that Tuscany was simply lovely. A heartfelt thanks to Anthony Kearns for making a dream trip to Italy come true. Without the incentive of seeing that man in “Falstaff,” this trip may never have taken place.
While picking up our tickets at the opera house for the first evening’s performance, I heard singing in the distance. When we realized that it was the star of the evening, one of our party prevailed upon Anthony to come and say hello. He walked in with another performer, Sam McElroy, who plays Ford (Nannetta’s father). Anthony looked very handsome, relaxed, and trim. We spoke briefly about the coming evening's performance. He said that he had been enjoying his experiences in Montepulciano and was ready for the opera. He and Sam left to prepare for the evening’s performance. It was the perfect beginning to an enchanting few days!
I will have to forego reviewing the first night's opera, as our seats were terribly bad so I could never do justice to the performance; we were very disappointed by our location! However, for the Friday night performance, our seats were from the middle aisle outward, about five rows from the front; very good seats, indeed!
Anthony came onstage in a black and white pinstriped suit and looked very dashing. He sang the word "Nannetta" in a clear, lovely voice followed by one of those Anthony smiles. And then they were embracing and Anthony was giving her kisses off and on. He is quite a good actor, as the kisses looked very real even though we had been assured by the shy, young “Nannetta” that they were not!
Anthony seems more comfortable with his acting as he obtains more experience performing in opera as opposed to just standing on stage and singing. He had several people to work with and around and did so with ease and assurance. There is a bed scene where Fenton (Anthony) is asked into the bed by his Nannetta, whereupon he strips out of his jacket and shoes and jumps headlong into the bed. In the true comedic fashion of the “Falstaff” opera, one soon sees his tie fly out of the bed, as well. The scene under the sheets was quite funny, and Fenton and Nannetta peeping out of the sheet and singing together was darling. After their kissing duet, Fenton is discovered there with Nannetta and he must run from the
bed. Anthony leaping out of bed and grabbing his shoes at a run was hilarious. He was able to carry this scene with aplomb and work around the other actors and props needed to make it quite funny. At other times, the poor man had to contend with kissing Nannetta often, running his hands up and down her arms, as a romantic fella should do. Tough work, but someone's gotta do it!
Anthony's make-up certainly did play up his blue eyes. The look on his face as he sang the solo aria was very tender; his voice was exquisitely beautiful. It was just lovely to watch his tender, sweet countenance and hear that beautiful voice. I thought the second night that his voice, though not loud, carried very well over the orchestra. The orchestra did seem softer overall the second night; it had needed a bit of toning down.
Mrs. Ford, Ford, Nannetta, and Falstaff all had wonderful voices. The years of experience really showed through toward the end of the opera in Falstaff's performance. The emotion on his face as he sang all alone on the stage was marvelous. Nannetta was dressed to look rather dowdy on stage, but is really quite pretty, as is Mrs. Ford, though more mature than Nannetta. Ford's baritone was clear and wonderful, and he is a very good looking young man also. They all acted and sang their roles to perfection.
Bardolfo and Pistola were very funny and clever. Their expressions and antics were priceless.
At the very end of the opera, chairs attached to each other were pushed in by some of the cast as they sang. The main characters sat in the seats with the rest of the cast standing behind or around them. Anthony took a seat between Mrs. Quickly and Falstaff in the front row. They all proceeded to sing; very full-throated, fast singing, with their voices commanding the scales perfectly. One could pick out Anthony's lovely tenor. His eyes sparkled, and he would smile often through the ending chorus. He appeared to be enjoying it all thoroughly and took great pleasure from the “Bravos” of the crowd. There were many curtain calls and the applause was loud and prolonged. Superb!!
Falstaff
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