This article examines television and its approach to opera casting practices during the civil rights movement. In particular, I trace the impact of NBC’s “Integration without Identification” hiring policy upon the NBC Opera Theatre in the 1950s. Focusing on the appearances of Leontyne Price, I argue that television—particularly its aesthetic of “realism”—influenced the perception of her performances, and by extension ideas of who could credibly perform roles in the standard repertory. Claims of realism have often limited Black singers’ opportunities in opera, but this article challenges the frequent equation of realism with traditional casting practices by showing the many ways in which opera was received as real in the early years of television.
The locus of the study is Price’s portrayal of the title role in Tosca (NBC 1955). I analyze how the camerawork, production choices, and the singer’s acting all contributed to Price’s depiction being acclaimed as “realistic” by the press. Using internal memos and reports from the network, I also show how the realism of Price’s performance, opposite a white romantic male lead, was judged, not according to whether it aligned with the opera’s plot, but whether it reflected the individual viewer’s own perspective on contemporary American reality. The article concludes by considering how Price’s TV performances may offer lessons for our present moment, as the opera industry seeks to reform its casting policies and eliminate systemic inequities.
University of California Press