The Return Of The Scaled Down Soprano

Opera Star Triumphantly Returns After Losing Weight And Regaining A Role

(CBS/AP)  Deborah Voigt is back, in black.

The American soprano returns to the Royal Opera House stage Monday, four years after the company fired her for being too big for the little black dress chosen for the title character in Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos." The decision sparked a fierce debate about weight discrimination in opera.

Now a slimmer Voigt is back in the same opera, the same role - and wearing "that" dress.

"When I got the call from my manager, I have to admit my first reaction was to laugh, because we had come full circle," Voigt told The Associated Press in an interview before opening night. "When that happened, I didn't anticipate ever coming back, because I didn't think they would invite me."

Voigt, one of the world's leading opera singers, had been scheduled to play the lead in the Royal Opera's summer 2004 production of "Ariadne." But the casting director decided the titular Greek goddess should wear a black evening dress and believed Voigt would not look right in it.

"I was angry about it at the time and for quite a while afterwards," said Voigt, who once called the attitude toward overweight people "the last bastion of open discrimination in our society."

However, Voigt had gastric bypass surgery in June 2004, three months after the story broke, and subsequently lost 135 pounds. She says she had been considering the surgery on health grounds for years, long before the black dress incident.

"I certainly didn't do it because of the Royal Opera House," Voigt told CBS News correspondent Bob Simon in a 2006 60 Minutes interview. "I did it because I wasn't feeling well, because my knees were hurting, because I would cross the street and feel as though I wasn't going to be able to catch my breath. Because, 'Oh my lord, I might have to sit in that chair at dinner and there are arms on it. And will I fit into that chair?'"

"I didn't need the Royal Opera House to tell me I was fat," Voigt says now. "I knew I was fat."

She now concedes she wouldn't have been right for the production, and thinks opera's increased focus on image is here to stay.

"I think that the face of opera is changing," Voigt said. "To assume that one can weigh 300-plus pounds and still be viable on today's opera stage is naive. I tell that to young singers."

"Opera has changed immensely in my generation and it is going to change more."

In 2006, the Royal Opera rehired Voigt, announcing she would return to the role of Ariadne in the 2007-2008 season. Beyond that, the company refuses to discuss the incident, saying only that rehearsals have gone well and it is "looking forward with great excitement to Deborah Voigt's performances in 'Ariadne."'

The ebullient Voigt seems to have put the episode squarely behind her. She has nothing but praise for her "warm and welcoming" reception by the Royal Opera, and has poked fun at the furor by releasing a YouTube video entitled "The Return of the Little Black Dress," in which she and her slinky nemesis make up.

"It just seemed at the time that we weren't a good fit," the dress tells the now-svelte singer in the clip. "But times change, people change."

Voigt said in 2004 that she didn't expect to be allowed to sing at the Royal Opera House as long as casting director Peter Katona remained. He's still there, and the pair have reconciled.

"I remember that Mr. Katona said some day we would be able to laugh about this," Voigt said. "And I said, 'Yeah, right.' But he was right."

"There is no point walking around with a chip on your shoulder about it. Life's too short."

At 47, Voigt's career is going strong. Some critics have detected changes to her voice as a result of the weight loss, suggesting it is ever-so-slightly thinner, less warm.

Others find it as mesmerizing as ever. An Associated Press reviewer thought Voigt's recent performance in "Tristan und Isolde" at the Metropolitan Opera was majestic: "Her voice has lyric beauty as well as steel."

Voigt acknowledges it has been an adjustment.

"The whole process of learning to sing with a different physique has taken a lot longer than I thought it would," she said. "Four years on, I am still having to rethink how I sing."

"People might say, the voice is more silver than gold as it used to be," she added. "It's not for me to say. I am enjoying performing a lot more than I was."

Conductor James Conlon says that, as far as he's concerned, Voigt is as good as she was and maybe even better.

"You can sustain yourself, you can sustain your breath better. You are, you have less work to do just to move around," Conlon told CBS News' 60 Minutes.

In 2011, Voigt is to sing Bruennhilde in the Met's much-anticipated new Ring Cycle. Since her surgery she has expanded her repertoire, playing Biblical temptress Salome and legendary beauty Helen of Troy.

"It's nice to be able to play the pretty-girl parts," Voigt said. "I never thought I would be able to do that."

"Ariadne auf Naxos," opening Monday at the Royal Opera House, runs until July 1.

[ubrew12]

This is so sad, but its true: Opera isn''t just about great music: its also about great visuals. And its hard to picture an overweight heroine being the subject of passionate amore by multiple suitors, sad as that is to say.

"Some critics have detected changes to her voice as a result of the weight loss, suggesting it is ever-so-slightly thinner, less warm"

That is actually to be expected. So what. Half of the glory of great music is what we''re hearing in our head anyway, NOT what we''re hearing in our ears. That''s why, to appreciate a great opera, like to appreciate a great game of basketball, you have to know what you''re watching so well you can ''hear'' the music in your head before its sounded. So when Kobe Bryant makes the move you''ve already made in your head, its like some cosmic verification.

[ubrew12]

So, ''the operas not over until the fat lady sings??''

Awesome!

I don''t EVER want the opera to be over!

[haoli25]

I give her 6 months and she will be back to her ''singing slob'' self again.

[alphaa10-2009]

CBS reports, "... At 47, Voigt''s career is going strong. Some critics have detected changes to her voice as a result of the weight loss, suggesting it is ever-so-slightly thinner, less warm."
---

Two astonishing statements by the AP reviewer==

1. "At 47, Voight''a career is still going strong."

This is a feat, in and of itself. Although opera is not professional athletics, it is very demanding to perform year after year. One opera director put it bluntly to his performers-- to meet his standards of excellence, they would have to leave a little bit of themselves on the stage, each time.

2. "Some critics have detected changes to her voice as a result of the weight loss... "

Some slight change is to be expected with any massive loss of weight. The real question is not whether voice quality has changed, but whether the stamina of a 47-year old opera soprano is improved. With medical counsel strongly advising weight loss to realize benefits in every area, from cardiovascular to glucose metabolism, Voight''s stamina should improve by an order of magnitude.

Congratulations to Voight for her life- and career-saving achievement. Congreatulations to the seasoned professionals at the Royal Opera for doing the right thing-- with grace and humor.

[alphaa10-2009]

haoli25 said, "I give her 6 months and she will be back to her ''''singing slob'''' self again."
---

You clearly don''t understand what Voight went through to maintain a steady course in her career.

Having a stomach stapled into a strangulated version of itself is no recreational sport. The procedure is not easily or completely undone, either.

But Voight probably extended her lifespan by at least a decade or more. And boosted her health, along with it.

[alphaa10-2009]

To ubrew12--

Honest. I read the story, and then offered my own comments before reading any others.

Somehow, your comments, preceding mine by four hours, were very similar. You even made the sports analogy.

[dabsgram]

Disregarding possible changes in her voice or how she presents herself; I never heard that Pavarotti was fired for being too fat. Go figure.

[alphaa10-2009]

dabsgram said, " I never heard that Pavarotti was fired for being too fat..."
---

Pavarotti falls neatly into a number of roles that do not stress svelte appearance, but he was constantly hounded and the butt of jokes about his weight, nonetheless.

According to one legend, "Luciano Pavarotti once threatened to throw himself out of a window when his
lover dumped him.

"But instead of being worried, an aide shrugged and said: ''Don''t do it ... you won''t fit.'' "

See fascinating Slate article on Pavarotti, and operatic singing, in general--
http://www.slate.com/id/2173454/

[mswolfestock]

I would expect her voice to improve, and she probably does not become so tired any more. She does not have to work so hard to take a breath, because her lungs are no longer encased in that thick layer of fat. Wouldn''t you have a problem taking a lung-full of air if you had 100 pounds wrapped around your body?

I will never understand why really fat people allow themselves to endure so much physical discomfort . . . . (much less the mental anguish)- she mentioned her knees hurting. I expect anybody''s knees would hurt - our skeletal structure is not adapted to holding up such an extreme excess of weight.