“Operatic performers quickly learn how to make a declaration of love, to suffer, to meditate, to die, and so on, and they repeat these forms in all analogous situations that they happen to be in. These are well-known, rubber-stamp effects. Nearly everyone knows them all, and speaks of them scornfully, yet…a majority of singers go right on using them.” That’s how Pavel Rumyantsev described the state of operatic acting in the 1920s, and you’d be forgiven for wondering if much has changed since then. Certainly, few go to a performance of “Il Trovatore” or “Così fan tutte” expecting anything like dramatic realism; at their best, the stylized theatrics of opera performance can be thrilling, creating their own dreamlike reality. But too often, operatic acting is leaden and unconvincing. Stock gestures like wringing hands and shaking fists are commonplace, and some of the biggest stars are the worst offenders.
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