The ‘ghost’ who sang for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, for Deborah Kerr in The King and I and for Natalie Wood in West Side Story
Millions of filmgoers who enjoyed the singing of Deborah Kerr in The King and I (1956), Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961) and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964) were unaware that their voices were dubbed by Marni Nixon, who has died of breast cancer aged 86.
In order to keep the illusion a secret, the extraordinarily versatile American coloratura soprano was uncredited. It was only some years later, after the heyday of the Hollywood musical had passed, that the curtains were figuratively pulled back to reveal Nixon at a microphone behind the scenes. In film circles, this most unsung of singers was dubbed the “ghostess with the mostest”. However, in classical music circles, Nixon was well known for her wide range of recordings and opera performances,...
Millions of filmgoers who enjoyed the singing of Deborah Kerr in The King and I (1956), Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961) and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964) were unaware that their voices were dubbed by Marni Nixon, who has died of breast cancer aged 86.
In order to keep the illusion a secret, the extraordinarily versatile American coloratura soprano was uncredited. It was only some years later, after the heyday of the Hollywood musical had passed, that the curtains were figuratively pulled back to reveal Nixon at a microphone behind the scenes. In film circles, this most unsung of singers was dubbed the “ghostess with the mostest”. However, in classical music circles, Nixon was well known for her wide range of recordings and opera performances,...
- 7/26/2016
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
TV Picks: Met Music Director James Levine Conducts Richard Eyre’s New Production of Mozart’s Comic Masterpiece Le Nozze di Figaro airing on Great Performances at the Met coming Friday, January 16 at 9 p.m. on PBS. Soprano Renée Fleming hosts the broadcast.One of the most popular operas of all time, Mozart’s Figaro features music that has been used in countless movies and advertisements, including Trading Places, The King’s Speech, and The Shawshank Redemption.Mozart’s elegant masterpiece of marital discord, Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and staged by Richard Eyre, is the season premiere of Great […]...
- 12/24/2014
- by April Neale
- Monsters and Critics
If all you knew about the Metropolitan Opera came from last summer’s headlines about the labor dispute — if you heard the cries that the whole apparatus was tottering and you wondered why anyone should care — then the answer is: Le Nozze di Figaro. The Met rescued its season from an impending strike and opened it with Mozart’s gloriously irreverent romantic comedy, proving to glistening gala patrons that while opera doesn’t exist only for them, it sure is up to them to keep it going. The contract negotiations laid bare how expensive it is to put on an opera. Opening night made clear what the money can sometimes buy: a ravishing, intricately wrought evening of music, humor, and emotional depth that isn’t available in any other art form. Is opera on a grand scale sustainable in today’s ecology of entertainment? It damn well better be.Thank...
- 9/23/2014
- by Justin Davidson
- Vulture
BroadwayWorld just met the cast and you can check out an exclusive interview with Jacquelynne Fontaine and Frank Viveros, who play Carlotta Guidicelli and Ubaldo Piangi, belowJacquelynne's regional credits include The Student Prince Kathie, Pittsburgh Clo, A Little Night Music Charlotte, Indiana Rep Theater, The Sound of Music Elsa, North Shore Music Theater, A Room With A View Ragazza, The Old Globe. Opera La Traviata Violetta, Tacoma Opera and Rogue Opera, The King amp IAnna, Opera North, Le Nozze di Figaro Susanna, Rogue Opera, Don Giovanni Donna Elvira, Tuscia Opera, Italy, Die Zauberflote Pamina, Tuscia Opera, Italy. In Southern California Don Giovanni Donna Anna, Summer and Smoke Alma, Idomeneo Ilia, Candide Cunegonde,Antigone Antigone, Blood Wedding The Bride, A View From the BridgeCatherine.Frank originated the roles of Bloat The Blowfish in Disney's Finding Nemo The Musical, and Iron Chef in off-Broadway's Yellow Brick Road. Favorites includeCaroline, or Change BusDryer,...
- 11/17/2013
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
Striking Russian opera singer and wife of Mstislav Rostropovich, she was made an 'unperson' during the Soviet era
The soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, who has died aged 86, coloured her performances of opera, and especially of Russian song, so beautifully that full comprehension was not essential for enjoyment. Of course, once you did understand the words, you realised how much meaning she brought to them.
Possessed of a striking physical presence with lustrous dark hair, she was such a natural actor that she became the star of her generation at the Bolshoi opera company in Moscow, forging artistic relationships with the stage director Boris Pokrovsky and the conductor Alexander Melik-Pashaev. And – appropriately for a performer who sang with all the skill of an instrumentalist – for more than half a century she was married to Mstislav Rostropovich, not just a great cellist, but also a considerable conductor and pianist.
Their marriage – her third...
The soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, who has died aged 86, coloured her performances of opera, and especially of Russian song, so beautifully that full comprehension was not essential for enjoyment. Of course, once you did understand the words, you realised how much meaning she brought to them.
Possessed of a striking physical presence with lustrous dark hair, she was such a natural actor that she became the star of her generation at the Bolshoi opera company in Moscow, forging artistic relationships with the stage director Boris Pokrovsky and the conductor Alexander Melik-Pashaev. And – appropriately for a performer who sang with all the skill of an instrumentalist – for more than half a century she was married to Mstislav Rostropovich, not just a great cellist, but also a considerable conductor and pianist.
Their marriage – her third...
- 12/11/2012
- by Tully Potter
- The Guardian - Film News
Swiss soprano renowned for her beauty and singing of Strauss
When the Swiss soprano Lisa Della Casa, who has died aged 93, made her Covent Garden debut in the title role of Richard Strauss's Arabella on the Bavarian State Opera's visit to London in 1953, she won all hearts with the beauty of her singing and of her appearance. This role became her trademark, and when the Royal Opera decided to stage its own production of the work in 1965, Della Casa was, of course, the Arabella, with Georg Solti in the pit.
The producer was Rudolf Hartmann, who had done much to launch Della Casa's career on an international level. That career had begun in 1941 in the Swiss town of Solothurn-Biel, where she made her debut in the title role of Madama Butterfly. She joined the Zurich Opera House in 1943, appearing as the First Boy in The Magic Flute, later ascending...
When the Swiss soprano Lisa Della Casa, who has died aged 93, made her Covent Garden debut in the title role of Richard Strauss's Arabella on the Bavarian State Opera's visit to London in 1953, she won all hearts with the beauty of her singing and of her appearance. This role became her trademark, and when the Royal Opera decided to stage its own production of the work in 1965, Della Casa was, of course, the Arabella, with Georg Solti in the pit.
The producer was Rudolf Hartmann, who had done much to launch Della Casa's career on an international level. That career had begun in 1941 in the Swiss town of Solothurn-Biel, where she made her debut in the title role of Madama Butterfly. She joined the Zurich Opera House in 1943, appearing as the First Boy in The Magic Flute, later ascending...
- 12/11/2012
- by Alan Blyth
- The Guardian - Film News
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