Roberto Alagna

Faust, 10 May 2005, Beyond Words


No, that’s not Sieglinde posing with Bobby. (That’s Sieglinde’s spiritual godmother, I-only-wear-60s-couture Lois Kirschenbaum, trying to get some at the Met stage door.) Meanwhile, Sieglinde joins the chorus of Alagna admirers whose summer goal is to be the next Mrs. Gheorghiu. Kidding aside, I have never felt such love for male voices until this man’s blossoming renaissance as our leading man of opera. Simply beyond words, the joy in my heart is immense. Those who waited by the stage door after the opera (I was too spent to hang around) told me how warm, generous, infectiously happy, and boyish he was with everyone (Lois or otherwise), exuding an authentic joie de vivre through and through. News: still shaking, Sieglinde is finding it very hard to write any more on this subject. Falling for a voice consumes and paralyzes thoroughly like middle school puppy love. Recovery may be impossible.