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...
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