Mood-altering powders are now ingested as well as high-proof brandy; a lumberjack's camp has been transformed into a shooting gallery; and Clive is a promising singer who performs in downtown dives instead of the oral poet of the docks that Baal was.
Audiotape recordings of Vincent's voice (she was a promising singer) prompt uncanny reactions from the interviewees, her ghost-like presence haunting the proceedings, which play out like a melancholy modern reworking of A Christmas Carol; the fact that Vincent died wrapping seasonal presents for her not-so-nearest and dearest lends a further air of tragedy.
Ms. Berger at times exhibits bizarre and irascible behavior, but can also be charming and lucid enough to recall how she was once a promising singer (and belt out a few Broadway tunes to prove it).
Mr. Hill was a promising choral singer as a young man; he met his wife during his Navy training, when he performed as a guest soloist at a concert in which she was the pianist.
The other finalists were all promising singers: Haeran Hong, a sweet-voiced soprano, and Hyo Na Kim, a dark-toned, agile mezzo-soprano, both from South Korea; Rena Harms, a luminous soprano from Santa Fe, N.M.; and Maya Lahyani, an earthy mezzo-soprano from Israel.
Thunderbolt was a promising start.
It was a promising beginning.
It was a promising venture.
"Aria" is a promising start.
It was a promising start.
