American mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato had an Independence Day 2009 to remember, breaking her leg while performing at the Royal Opera House on the opening night of Il Barbiere Di Siviglia, yet continuing to perform to the end of the show.
The Kansas native fell during Act I but thought she had sprained her ankle and was supported through the rest of her painful performance by her fellow cast members. After performing using a crutch, and receiving a huge ovation for her struggle, DiDonato was taken to hospital where the extent of her injury, a fractured fibia, was revealed.
DiDonato is due to return to the stage tonight, but will be performing the role of Rossina from the relative comfort of a wheelchair and with her leg in plaster. The Royal Opera has confirmed that the staging will be altered accordingly.
Writing on her website, DiDonato did not seem too downhearted about her injury, saying: “Tonight was an evening for the memory, to be sure, and it had little to do with my falling down and breaking my fibia.
“Yes – I broke my fibia. Fabulous. But it had a lot more to do with amazing colleagues helping me through every little step, astonishing music making at every single level, hair-raising improvising by myself and my ridiculously brilliant cast, and a lot of patience on the part of the public.”
DiDonato is due to appear in five more performances of Rossini’s comic opera this July, including a screened performance on 15 July.
Though she is eager to return to the stage, she has asked well wishers to alter their good luck messages: “From here on out, I declare that no one (please!) ever ever ever wish me again, ‘Break a leg.’”
MA