Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Tara Erraught Is Having Her Adele Dazeem Moment In Opera

A picture of Tara Erraught as Sesto in
Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito at
Bayerische Staatsoper
in February 2014 (Photo: Facebook)
Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught has been in the news lately for British press fat-shaming her in a production of Der Rosenkavalier. Other opera singers, most notably Alice Coote's open letter lashing the critics, have voiced their opinions on the matter as well. Even the fashion magazine Elle is weighing in on the issue. Of course the greatest offense here is the critics NOT actually critiquing the singing of an opera, but trying to focus in on someone's appearance. Now, what universe do these men live in that they think Tara Erraught is overweight? It is with great hope that Ms. Erraught is quite aware of her vocal talents and takes pride in her gorgeous physical appearance. This might just be her succès de scandale. John Travolta famously butchered Idina Menzel's name into Adele Dazeem at the Academy Awards just before she sang "Let it go" from Disney's hit film Frozen. The Broadway star now says she was shaken for about 8 seconds before singing, but now in hindsight it was the greatest thing to happen in her career because now millions more people know her by name that may not otherwise have paid attention after her performance. Tara Erraught should soak up all the attention in this moment and ignore those silly men with their limp quills. Her exquisite figure and career will have the last laugh. A photo from the Glyndebourne Rosenkavalier production is after the jump.
Performers left to right: Marianne Leitmetzerin [Miranda Keys], Sophie [Theodora Gheorghiu] and Octavian [Tara Erraught]. Click to enlarge (Photo: Bill Cooper)