“My Many Lives”

Extract

I know it is hard to believe but I am often asked whether it is necessary for a singer to know what happens in all the scenes of an opera in which one has a role. That one must know just what the opera is about…! Good Heavens ! ! ! When this strange question revealing such an abysmal lack of understanding was first put to me I really couldn't understand what was meant by it. How can one portray a role in an opera if one does not have a complete conception of the whole story with every detail which relates to the role and all the action which has preceded it? Otherwise it would be nothing but empty and incredibly stupid theatre. If one doesn't know the story from which the opera was created: the libretto itself, every gesture will be superficial and all the action lifeless and false.