Comments on: This Time I'll Spare You The "Not-So-Fat-Lady Sings" Joke

By: singerj

singerj — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:48:53 +0000

This whole situation is very sad, to me. Voigt hacked up her internal organs so that misogynistic/size-obsessed opera directors could be placated. Why misogynistic? While men do deal with criticism in the opera world while fat, they don’t deal with half as much ridiculousness as women do. At least, such has been my experience and the experience of those around me. Of course Voigt’s voice would be affected! My voice would be affected if all of a sudden more was riding on my BMI than my larynx! I hope that Voigt finds happiness and a good career, no matter what. I wish her the greatest happiness and the greatest success: fat, thin, or anywhere in between. Her voice is a gem in this world and she doesn’t deserve such critiques!!!

By: Haystacks

Haystacks — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:30:00 +0000

Here is a woman who was very talented, then discriminated against, and then had major surgery to get her job back. Part of me is angry at her for caving, and feels vaguely betrayed. Another feels that she was coerced- I mean her livelihood was threatened, which is hardly fair. Another sympathies. But she was an opera singer. She sang beautifully, why isn’t the article about how wrong that was.

By: CindyS

CindyS — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 02:42:54 +0000

I am a professional opera singer, too, and when this incident happened, it enraged me. I wrote an article about it for Classical Singer Magazine called “It Ain’t Over ’til the Black Dress Sings”, protesting the fact that Deborah Voigt, the premiere interpreter of Ariadne singing today, was somehow unsuitable because the director didn’t like how she would look in the freaking COSTUME; as well as the effect this sort of thinking has on the opera world.

Several years later, I have chosen to lose weight myself. I’m interested to see how this might affect my own career. (At least one general director told my agent he didn’t WANT me to lose weight, but that’s just because he envisioned a fat person in the role he was considering me for).

I think it’s sad that the world can’t accept people of all sizes and shapes as beautiful, sexy, and worthy of love.

By: kmom

kmom — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:58:20 +0000

Remember she also had an incident recently (at the Met, I think?) where she had to leave the stage in the middle of a performance and was too sick to go on. Someone had to step in for her in the middle of the performance.

Now of course, she really might have had some kind of real bug. People with WLS get bugs too, and that might be all this was.

But one has to wonder if perhaps she had a sudden GI-nasty attack during a performance, or starting “dumping” or having other WLS-related problems.

I’ve heard the stories of the vomiting and diarrhea and dumping and all, and wondered all along how that would work with a stage career. Esp in the years to come as she starts to develop more malnutrition issues.

Perhaps this truly was only a bug but I have to wonder how this will affect her career in the long-term. It’s been a boost in the short-term, but will it be such a boost in a few years when the malnutrition starts taking a toll?

So sad to see the formerly size-friendly field of opera go the way of the rest of the world. And so sad to see this sassy, spunky woman bow down to this kind of sizist crap.

By: ginger

ginger — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:35:32 +0000

“The best revenge would have been to get a better part with a different opera house and get rave reviews and bring in lots of money and make the first place regret firing her. But I guess things don’t always work that way in real life.”

Practically speaking, even a singer at Voigt’s level can’t get away with boycotting Covent Garden because of a previous snub – she would be perceived as unprofessional, unfair though that is, and that would in turn make it more difficult for her with casting directors around the world.

It’s telling that she had to get Covent Garden’s buy-in just to run the YouTube video.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:30:28 +0000

I love Debbie Voigt, she’s super sassy and wicked talented. I thought the video was a stitch and a nice little coda to the whole unfortunate incident. I’ve been following her for many years, and I’ll say that her voice is still lovely, but just not the same post-surgery. The opera world, sadly, is getting more and more sizist, and clearly she’d been struggling and yo-yoing dramatically for years. While I don’t think the surgery was a good idea, I hope that it can be a catylist for her to keep doing everything ELSE that will help her maintain a long and healthy life and career.

By: Adam G.

Adam G. — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:58:05 +0000

My mother went to school with Debbie Voight at Cal State Fullerton in the 1980s. Mom and Debbie were good friends, and she was a frequent visitor to our house. She’s always had that spunky sense of humor and that magnificent voice.

She and my mom both struggled with weight all their lives, and I remember them both hating their bodies. Personally, I always thought they were both beautiful. I’m very sorry to hear that Debbie had WLS and that she had to do this to get her job back. That just enrages me.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:08:47 +0000

She is sassy, for sure.

By: Liza

Liza — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:39:44 +0000

not to spam, but i forgot to mention the subhead mentions a “cure” for the “obesity epidemic”

gag-er-oo!

By: Liza

Liza — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:38:52 +0000

and by “it” I mean “is”