The fresh portrayal is the result of a "virtual autopsy" that used more than 2,000 computer scans of Tut along with a genetic analysis of his entire family.
(It was decades before fresh screen portrayals of Frankenstein's monster began to emerge from the huge, lurching shadow of Boris Karloff).
Perhaps because she had no nostalgia for the old production, she was able to create a fresh, vital portrayal, bringing a luminous tone, a generously supported musical line, a keen sense of verbal nuance, and a flair for seduction.
The soprano Deborah Voigt, fresh off her portrayal of Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Glimmerglass Festival, shifts moods drastically and repeatedly in "Dich, teure Halle" from Wagner's "Tannh?er," "Andromache's Farewell" by Samuel Barber and the final scene from Strauss's "Salome".
The soprano Deborah Voigt, fresh off her portrayal of Annie Oakley in "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Glimmerglass Festival, shifts moods drastically and repeatedly in "Dich, teure Halle" from Wagner's "Tannhäuser," "Andromache's Farewell" by Samuel Barber and the final scene from Strauss's "Salome".
And the veteran James Morris, fresh from his acclaimed portrayal of Hans Sachs in "Die Meistersinger," is Scarpia.
The Showtime hit, which was based on a British series of the same name, broke fresh ground in its portrayal of gay and lesbian lives.
Shankar says he learned the news about Apu after he launched a spec script-writing contest for his Bootleg Universe site, in which he challenged his followers to come up with the perfect plot line to turn Apu into a "fresh, funny and realistic portrayal of Indians in America".
The heroine, Sofia, the young ward of a country estate owner who wants to marry her off to his best friend, will be the tireless soprano Lauren Flanigan, fresh from her critically acclaimed portrayal of Susan B. Anthony in "The Mother of Us All" at the New York City Opera.
Best of all was the tenor Bruce Sledge, whose bright, fresh voice complemented a finely shaded portrayal of Alfredo's transition from love-struck youth to repentant hothead.
