“Tristan” Follies: The Latest Disaster!
According to the New York Times: Truth remained stranger than even Wagnerian fiction for the Metropolitan Opera’s six-performance revival of “Tristan und Isolde†in its fifth outing tonight. Finally, the tenor Ben Heppner recovered from illness and assumed the role of Tristan for the first time in the run, but the soprano Deborah Voigt, the Isolde, was ill and had to be replaced by Janice Baird. (Heppner and Voigt are pictured.) For those of you who haven’t been following this saga — which has been more exciting, more compelling, and altogether stranger than the current seasons of “Top Chef,” “American Idol,” and “Top Model” combined, here’s a summary of the gory “Tristan” details.” If both Ms. Voigt and Mr. Heppner show up for the final performance this Friday and finally consummate, there will be cheering of a fall-of-the-Berlin-wall magnitude.
