Can best friends play rivals onstage? Can they still be good friends offstage?
“We like to hug!” says Canadian soprano Sally Dibblee about working with fellow soprano Tracy Dahl in Pacific Opera Victoria's current production of Gaetano Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. Hugs would often happen in rehearsal during what’s described as absolute vitriol in one of the opera's most confrontational scenes.
Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda is loose with history but highlights the rift in politics and religion between Mary Queen of Scotts and Elizabeth I. Donizetti imagines what would happen if they really did meet. The story includes a sordid love triangle, knives, and what’s considered the most lyrical catfight in all of opera.
Dahl is Maria Stuarda; Dibblee is Elizabetta. They are best friends in real life. They tell Paolo Pietropaolo of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera that when this opera was first performed in 1835 the sopranos actually did hate each other and got into a real fist fight. That’s something Dahl and Dibblee would like to avoid. They say their craft works better for them if the anger and jealousy is simulated.
So what aspects of their real lives do they draw upon for their characterizations?
Dahl says her friend Dibblee only compares to Elizabeth when it comes to indecision, just not on the same scale. Dibblee says she can never make up her mind in a restaurant. It’s different, however, when she's portraying a character who's thinking about beheading her cousin.
Dibblee says her friend Dahl shares the sympathetic side of Maria Stuarda who has moments of deep introspection and teary moments. She says “we’ve certainly shared tears together in real life.”
Tracy Dahl has recently battled with breast cancer. But she’s now back to performing and broadcasting and keeping up a fast pace.
Related Link:
I'll Never Stop Saying Maria by Ira Siff
Biography of librettist Giuseppe Bardari
Quarreling Queens: Donizetti's 'Maria Stuarda, an NPR segment exploring the connection between the Dixie Chicks and Maria Stuarda.
Wagner's Siegfried, live from the Met