Baritone comes clean: Wobbly pose in Opera Vivente's 'Poppea' was his idea
My review of Opera Vivente's recent production of Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea contained a slap at the sight of baritone Ryan de Ryke assuming a silly, wobbly, FTD-florist sort of pose when he appeared as the god Mercury, an action that generated titters at an inappropriate moment in the drama. I blamed the director for the idea, since directors typically decide how cast members come and go onstage. Well, de Ryke has set the record straight in an emailed message:
Friend that he is to singers, director John Bowen clearly told me to keep both feet on the ground (literally and figuratively) in rehearsal, but on opening night, I thought I could manage what turned out to be a most unfortunate tableau-tremblant. The same pose with both feet on the ground and a reasonable sense of balance, surprisingly enough, produced no chortles at all from future audiences!
My apologies to John Bowen.
Comments
Apology accepted. And thanks, Ryan, for setting the record straight.
Posted by: John Bowen | March 22, 2009 8:38 AM
I've only seen de Ryke in performance twice, the second time being closing night of this Poppea run. He has great physical poise, and he really looked like a god when he followed Bowen's directions on the proper way to appear to us mere mortals.
Posted by: Clayton | March 22, 2009 10:01 AM