Monday night the audience poured into Carnegie Hall with great anticipation for what would be Aprile Millo's first ever Minnie. The hall was buzzing with excitement, as advanced reports from the dress rehearsal were uncharacteristically ecstatic.

Millo did not disappoint. As is customary for the diva these days, she took a bit to warm up, undersinging her lines right up until the "Laggiu nel soledad." She sang the aria with searing intensity and intelligent phrasing. She then unleashed a stunning high C to cap the aria, as if to say Make no mistake about it, this is going to be MY evening. She obliterated everything in her path from that point on. In the second act, she offered the best balls-out singing we've yet heard from her: full-throated, beautiful high B's and C's and an arrestingly freakish chest voice. All evening, Millo rode Eve Queller's orchestral climaxes to thrilling effect.

Hilli is giggling as I write this: Carl Tanner's Dick was a mystery for most of the evening. While like the basic sound of his voice, his low and middle voice were grainy and soft—almost inaudible given that Queler was determined to drown out all of her singers this evening. He did, however, deliver in the highest of notes, and his third act "Ch'ella mi creda" was vocalized and phrased with ardent feeling. He tried to upstage Millo by holding on to the final "Addio!" Even a fool familiar with Callas's stories knows that such stage games rarely endear him to fans [especially Millo's very dedicated disciples] and most assuredly not to the diva herself.

Marco Chingaro, who made his American debut, was inaudible to me for the entire evening. This was a lyric baritone trying on a role that is three times the size of his voice. My advice to Ms. Queler: if you are going to bring in small voices, at least be considerate enough to let them be heard.

Any public appearance of Millo brings out her light-loafered following, but this performance was particularly well-attended and enthusiastically received. The excellent work of the gay, gay, Gay Men's Chorus [as the miners] certainly added to the frenzy, but this night was, above all, a personal triumph for Millo—one that I hope major theaters will take note of so that they may re-install and recognize this major talent in the Italian repertoire.