The great Patricia Neway (1919-2012) died earlier in the week in Corinth, VT. A wonderful soprano and a great actor. The first link is to her as Magda Sorel in The Consul singing and acting To This We’re Come. A desperate woman seeks a visa out of a totalitarian state.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
She performed not just in the US but triumphed in Europe.
She is most famous for creating the role of the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music. (For those who think of this a sentimentality, I must disagree. Hammerstein is not just writing vague platitudes, all of his metaphors become very specific concrete statements. And, as we all know, the family escapes the Nazis by climbing mountains).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
(begins at 4.00)
I have read that VPR will air a tribute to her on Feb 25th.
She was an amazing Magda.
Thank you so much for posting the links. I’ll look forward to the VPR tribute.
late husband John Byrne were good friends of my wife and I for the last twenty years.They both enjoyed a quiet life here in Vermont and it was only after knowing them for several years that we found out what truly well known people lived in our small town.We miss them both.