Slim Rodolfo

In the "golden age" which all operagoers ever 50 recall with sighs, the famous Rodolfos of Puccini's La Boheme (Bonci, Caruso, Gigli) had powerful voices and rotund figures. Today's cinema-bred audiences demand smaller bellies, and get, as a rule, weaker diaphragms. Old-time opera fans do not mind the drop in avoirdupois, but they sniff contemptuously at the comparatively microphonic murmuring that goes with it.

Therefore, last week when Manhattanites thronged the Metropolitan Opera to hear & see a new Rodolfo, Polish Tenor Jan Kiepura's exploits as Central Europe's cinema idol were no particular recommendation. But they found before the performance was over that a virile figure was not Kiepura's only asset. Tall, handsome Kiepura overacted at times, flopped melodramatically upon the prostrate corpse of Mimi. But his singing was agreeably robust, warm in tone quality. Applauding oldsters agreed that there was nothing the matter with Kiepura's diaphragm.

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