The truth - or half of it

The Royal Opera House has a habit of couching its artist withdrawals in evasive terms. A spat with the director becomes 'sudden illness', an unforeseen inability to hit the high Cs is 'recovery from infection'.

But, credit where credit's due, they've come clean about Jennifer Rowley's unsuitability for the part of Isabelle in Robert le diable. Let's hope this heralds a new era of more honest cast change announcements.

But one big question remains. Why's it taken so long for them to find out? The change was made just four days before opening.  Is that when the decision was made, or were they just waiting for Patrizia Ciofi, the replacement, to complete her previous booking before announcing a fait accompli?

If it really was a last-minute swap, then why? Had no-one at Covent Garden heard Rowley's Musetta in Stefan Herheim's recent Oslo La bohème? Broadcast and DVD'd, so no excuse. Even if not, surely the weeks of rehearsal had dropped the odd clue that her voice is now 'more dramatic' (as they put it), or less agile (as I would) than the role requires. Were the music and casting decision-makers actually listening to the rehearsals, or at least getting feedback? Or were they too busy elsewhere?

Some commenters on the post below imagine the ROH announcement is some sort of sinister cover-up for Machiavellian manoeuverings. But from where I'm sitting, it looks like the only thing being covered up is incompetence.

Comments

[John Marston]

By comparison with a number of opera companies, the upper management of the Royal Opera shows little interest in what appears on stage - amazing, considering that this is their product. But they seem to feel that they employ 'servants' to get things right. The casting fiasco with Robert le Diable is just one example of what happens when this situation pertains.

In contrast, the Monniae opera house in Brussels managed to double cast Les Huguenots recently with not a single defection. And their recent production of Lulu was the result of much more hard work and insight than was put into the Christof Loy production at CG. Such things show a much greater commitment of the management in Brussels - and isn't a reflection on the artists involved.

And commitment is a two-way street. If the management isn't committed, then don't expect the singers to be. And expect the steady stream of cancellations to continue...

[Siggy]

Agreed IM. It is the timing of the announcement that irks and intrigues. If this had been announced even just a couple of weeks ago, shoulders would have been shrugged, gossip had, and then people would have moved on.

But to announce this on the day of the Dress with excuses such as 'more dramatic voice' smacks of the incompetence you call them out for.

I do feel sorry for Miss Rowley who until recent days was tweeting enthusiastically about taking part in rehearsals and the production - if she knew about this much before yesterday I'd be very much surprised.
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Intermezzo replies - I feel very sorry for Jennifer Rowley too - I'm sure she was given little more notice than the rest of us. It should have been clear to anyone who heard the bohème I mention that hers is not the light, nimble Gilda-type voice this role requires.

[amac]

All a bit odd - they are offering an exchange !

Although one of my tickets is itself an exchange from the Kaufman Troyens cancellations - I wonder how long I could keep an exchange going for !

by the look of things these days quite a few years !
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Intermezzo replies - Not much of an offer either - the normal terms of business permit you to exchange in any case. Though I can't see why anyone other than F&F of Jennifer Rowley would want to swap out.

[Kasper Holten]

Dear IM,

I can assure you that the cast change has been announced as soon as it was a final decision. The decision was taken at a very late point exactly for the reason mentioned in our press release and news blog: "Despite all efforts until the last minute by all parties to make it work as well as possible, it has been mutually agreed that Jennifer Rowley will not appear in Robert le diable and will postpone her Covent Garden debut."

We have indeed heard her do her brilliant Musetta in Oslo, which is also why we announced yesterday that she will be returning to do this very part as her Covent Garden debut in 2015. We continue to have great appreciation for Jennifer Rowley and are sure she will continue to build an important career. But Musetta is a very different role from Isabelle in Robert le Diable, and singing is not an exact science.

We hope audiences will be happy with Patrizia Ciofi and Sofia Fomina.

Best wishes
Kasper

[Jacques]

Mister Holten,

I do not understand why ROH did not originally invited Madame Ciofi for the role Isabelle? She is Isabelle (Martina Franca Festival 2000, Salerno with Maestro Oren 2012) in the world now ...

[John]

Much though I respect Kasper's desire to provide a human face to the Royal Opera House, this comment does very little to clarify why the house has decided to replace her at this late stage. It is, as far as I'm aware, unprecedented for the house to replace a performer at the eleventh hour for reasons of vocal suitability (although I'm afraid I can think of a few sorry examples in the last few years when I wish someone had intervened earlier). Singing may not be an exact science, but the explanation that "voices develop" and her voice is now too dramatic for the role is feeble given that she was only cast in the spring. Any casting director worth his salt should have been able to figure that one out, especially given that light sopranos are hardly thin on the ground. Would Diana Damrau have been given the boot as well, in light of the more dramatic quality has voice has developed in the past few years?

It is clear from the press release that the Royal Opera House does not want this to be interpreted as a statement on Jennifer Rowley's basic abilities, and they are keen to re-employ her. If we are really supposed to believe that her replacement has nothing to do with her professional readiness for the role, it might have been wise not to describe her, patronisingly, as "an important voice of the future", when a month ago we were supposed to believe she is a major artist of the present. As pay-offs go, a Musetta in three years time is hardly a star-vehicle but rather exactly the sort of light role the house gives to debutants they wish to try out before a more high profile engagement eg Sonya Yoncheva. Something has gone embarrassingly wrong here, and it stinks.

[John]

Ps I am thrilled with the replacement casting, by the way - good choices :-)

[Jacques]

Dear Mister Holten

Why ROH not originally invited for role Isabelle the role of Madame Ciofi?! She is the only one Isabelle in the world (Martina Franca Festival 2000, Salerno with maestro Oren 2012).

[amac]

Indeed - the slight difference is there was no fee and the Robert Le Diable ticket was about £11 cheaper so I got a refund for that part.

[Manou]

Maybe we are all expecting too much. I cannot for a moment agree that ...the upper management of the Royal Opera shows little interest in what appears on stage.... This is just ludicrous. We must bear in mind the complexities involved in planning seasons several years ahead, and then being faced with inevitable human failings of all kinds and trying to resolve all the ensuing problems in the best possible way.

It is perfectly true that Robert Le Diable has been bedevilled (pun intended) with more than its share of strange and wonderful cancellations (and un-cancellations), but (to borrow a notorious quote from Donald Rumsfeld) stuff happens. And management has to cope any way it can.

[Hariclea]

I totally agree with Manou. How was anyone, even Damrau herself to know when they signed up she'd have a baby, she's only human so is everyone else. It's not like 100 singers out there have sung this, look at how very few recordings there are. But there are many positive things to be said about it. For anyone who likes Freischutz ( and what's not to like about it????)this will be a great compliment, it's alert, it's fun. It's again a great show piece for the chorus and we all know how brilliant they are at the ROH. And the ROH management definitely deserves some credit for convincing Bryan Hymel to do the role. How likely is it he will sing this 10 more times? He sounds like absolutely the right guy for the part and kudos to him for learning it. Of course the change in sopranos has been rocky but securing Coifi in the end is a good decision by management, we can't fault them for not trying hard to give us a good cast. But we mustn't underestimate the kind of commitment this requires from singers, it's very hard singing, but a piece they may sadly never sing again. There are precious few top singers willing to work themselves ragged for something like this, when they could in the same time sing 3,4 standard repertoire pieces. Anyways, just wanted to point out that the piece is about much more than a soprano :-) (in any case from what i've heard so far the longest role of the lot is the tenor part) And the ROH needs to deliver on all the many accounts, not a singer alone, which is not easy.

[Hariclea]

It's actually Rossini's Guillaume Tell i was thinking about when i compared it to Weber's Freischutz, too many forests in all these plots ;-) and too much distraction reading all this stuff during work. But what i meant is it's that kind of work :-) And can be enjoyed for all the same and multiple reasons :-)

[Kit]

Two issues here worth separating:
1. The actual casting issue: an artistic and PR disaster (no shit Sherlock) I think they know that already.
2. the decision to change and the consequent press release: a laudable and brave move on the part of the ROH, and the press release as honest as can be without libelling anyone.
Lets at least agree to give credit for point 2!

[Kit]

And what has happened here?:

Thank you for booking tickets to see Handel’s Belshazzar on Thursday 13 December at 7pm. We are writing to inform you of two artist changes to this concert.

Unfortunately both Sarah Connolly and Neal Davies are unable to sing due to health reasons. We are grateful to Caitlin Hulcup and Jonathan Lemalu who have agreed to sing the roles of Cyrus and Gobrias respectively at short notice.

We hope you enjoy the concert

Yours sincerely

Peter Di Toro
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Intermezzo replies - Would that be the Barbican by any chance? Even worse than the ROH for last minute cast 'changes' - and far less transparent about the reasons.

[cunningfox]

Call me cynical, but it does occur to me that booking Rowley for Musetta in two or three years time is a very good way of stopping her going straight to the press and telling them exactly what she thinks of the ROH and its management. She's now effectively gagged until at least 2015.

[Catriona]

Neal Davies was out of WNO's Cosi Fan Tutte when I saw it in Bristol last Wednesday (Steven Page subbed) so I would guess he is genuinely ill. Though if we're talking about unexplained cast changes I'd love to know why Cora Burggraaf sang the first night of WNO's Cosi and was then replaced for the rest of the run by Maire Flavin...?

[michael]

have not been keeping up with the news lately but...
wasn't poplavskaya originally cast in this role?
and didn't she cancel well in advance?
and didn't she cancel this cancellation?

did i dream all this up? - or did she re-cancel?

[michael]

ohhhh what a didtz i am! seems as though there is more than one female in this opera which i am obviously very unfamiliar with. i do offer my sincere apologies to poplavakaya.

[Rannaldini]

Well the shame of it is that right at the beginning of her career, she has basically been humiliated by a major world opera house, which must have a knock-on effect if only subconsciously in the minds of other A&R departments around the world. Either 1) Her agent has advised her very very badly, and she might begin to question their "wisdom" or 2) She's been screwed over by ROH who are already feeling vulnerable on this production because of previous comings and goings.

Nice one Covent Garden - kick a young artist in the teeth rather than stopping to think in the first place.

[Rannaldini]

It's that time of year. Everyone's ill. Still - yes, somewhat frustrating!

[sjt]

Like all PR-speak, the ROH's press release needs decoding if you want to arrive at the truth. La Rowley's "now more dramatic" voice, which they manage to make sound as if, like the flu, had only suddenly broken out last week, is clearly the positive version of "can't sing the coloratura". But the trouble with PR-speak is that it raises other spectres: and you can't on the one hand point to a "now more dramatic" voice and in the same sentence say that therefore the fit use for it in future is that paragon of "more dramatic" repertory, Musetta, which as I said below has been sung at Covent Garden ever since gaslight by most of the shrillest soubrettes in the business.

All too silly for words. And given that the ultimate decision must have been a musical one, why is it Laurent Pelly who's fronting up in the press about "we felt this, and we felt that" ? It's certainly not the stage director's responsibilty to comment on a singer's VOCAL suitability for a role.

[cunningfox]

Actually, you can call me even more cynical, but what a publicity triumph this has been for the ROH. Acres of space in all sorts of papers, even unto the Daily Mail, that normally wouldn't know its Meyer from its Beer. What product recognition there must now be throughout the land! Jennifer Rowley, you were sacrificed in a noble cause.