And the Oscar goes to...Elizabeth Futral

Last performance of the second cast of Thaïs and while at the Greek National Opera my spies were trying to watch Rusalka- more incidents there last night- we, at the Athens Megaron, were waving goodbye to a great production and were having the luck to witness Elizabeth Futral's stunning interpretation as the Alexandrian courtesan.


What was missing from Marlis Petersen's performance at the premiere, we found here: Futral was secure, at ease, effortless, not the stage animal that Petersen is, but between the two, I would definitely go for Futral.


Oh! And then, what about the High D at "Dis-moi que je suis belle"? Petersen didn't go for it, as per maestro Plasson's orders. Same "orders" applied for Futral I suppose and I don't have a clue whether she sang the D's at previous performances but last night she did. And even not being a high-notes freak (yeah yeah! right!) I 'll have to testify that Futral's high D's at the final duet were OMG beautiful, remotely strained (and of course, not sung standing on the toes like trying to catch the sky as Petersen did).


People were saying "things" about George Mosley but what I heard was a fine singer, having a round, homogeneous voice, maybe not the biggest one but well projected. His Athanael was certainly not inferior to Anthony Michael-Moore's (maybe scenically) and his approach was not that of a rough, edgy Athanael but of a tender, caring, in-love one (was he under the Futral spell???).


Kudos to the rest of the cast who were singing their 6th performance in a roll (no alternate cast for them) and even so, sounded fresh. 3 kudos to the duet of Crobyle and Myrtale (Irini Kyriakidou and Angelica Cathariou) who sounded even better than in the premiere.


The Orchestra of Colours, this time not under Michel Plasson but under Miltos Logiadis, the Orchestra's resident conductor, gave a good performance, tempi a bit faster than Plasson's, tighter sound and a more energetic approach.


* Jeanette Pilou was responsible for the coaching of the singers.

If you don't mind stupid coughers
(somebody shoot them! pleaaase!)
listen to Jeanette Pilou singing
"Dis-moi que je suis belle"
in Miami, 1976

Jeanette Pilou, during the press-conference of Thaïs

Elizabeth Futral @ the press-conference