Opera god reduced to pitiful lip-sync

Veteran New Zealand opera singer Sir Donald McIntyre has been caught in the middle of a bizarre row in London over an appearance at the Royal Opera House.

Sir Donald, 70, was called in last week to stand in for Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel on the final night of the Royal Opera production of Wagner's Das Rheingold, playing the role of the great god Wotan.

Terfel had been rendered speechless by a throat infection and Sir Donald was rung and asked to step in as there was no understudy.

Oddly, Sir Donald sang from the orchestra pit as Terfel mimed the part while standing on the stage, Milli Vanilli-style.

Not only that, but the opera's director, Elaine Padmore, insulted Sir Donald by telling the audience "she had spent the day ringing round Germany but could not find a replacement", according to the Times newspaper.

"Finally, scraping the barrel - not her words, but the inevitable implication - she had found Sir Donald McIntyre, who is 70 and sang Wotan 30-odd years ago."

The Times, describing the evening as farce, headlined the item "The gods wept when this old man sang".

Their writer noted that Das Rheingold opened with "all the gods and giants bellowing at one another in resonant voices. But when Wotan, the greatest of the gods, replied, it was in a thin, reedy little memory of a voice."

Celia Walden, in her Spy column in the Telegraph, was equally unimpressed.

"Bryn made his entrance on stage, but nothing came out of his mouth. Instead, Sir Donald McIntyre was forced to sing from the pit."

Sir Donald himself told BBC Wales:

"I was under the stage and when the [other singers] got a little bit back on the stage I was literally unable to hear a thing."