To the Rescue

It was a little after 7 p.m. when the phone rang. The voice on the other end was breathless: Could Miss Varnay get down to the Metropolitan Opera House at once? Helen Traubel was ill and the Met had to have a new Isolde right away. An hour later, Astrid Varnay, hastily bewigged and costumed, but with no spare time for even a few warm-up scales, was ready to go on stage.

The Met has come to depend on Varnay. In the six years since her Manhattan debut, she has sung more Wagnerian leads than any other Met performer. She is a small woman with grey eyes who likes bad puns, saves box tops and chews bubble gum. Still young (she made her debut at 23) and still slim, as divas go, she strides through each new role like a veteran. Critics have been respectful to her rich voice, have called her performances "creditable," have applauded her plucky last-minute substitute jobs.

But last week Astrid was enjoying something no singer ever gets too much of: bravos. Mexico City's new opera season had run into trouble. The visiting conductor was stewing about the hot trumpeters and nightclub fiddlers the musicians' union had sent him; a leading tenor was feuding with the conductor. Could the chaotic season be steadied by a singer whom Mexican operagoers especially liked? The Opera Nacional had persuaded Astrid to come down and try some popular Italian operas. As usual, Astrid, who had never sung an Italian role, was glad to help out.

With her old self-confidence, she mastered four new Italian roles, broadened her acting ("You do things here New York would consider a little corny"), opened as Leonora in Il Trovatore. At the end of her big first act aria, the audience went wild. Next day, Astrid found herself the talk of the town.

She has no intention of giving up Wagner, but she hopes to try some of her new roles (Aida, La Gioconda, Desdemona) at the Met next year. Manhattan has been cordial to her; but dependable Astrid can't help feeling a special affection for demonstrative Mexico City: "It's such fun here. If they like you, they just won't let you offstage."

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