[The wonderful Keith Phares with the talented Jennifer Rivera at Nashville Opera]
We're huge fans of Keith Phares at Barihunks and loved him in Jake Heggie's "Three Decembers." However, he seems to be part of the Nathan Gunn school of wearing his wedding ring in roles where the character isn't married. Here he is in Robert Aldridge's adaptation of Elmer Gantry at the Nashville Opera with a wedding ring in plain site. Now, we have to confess that we haven't read Elmer Gantry since college nor have we seen the opera, but we seem to remember that he was an unmarried, womanizing preacher.
In the age of video and YouTube, little details like this can become distractions. Luckily for Phares, he is such a commanding presence on stage that we doubt many viewers would notice. Nonetheless, we hope that directors and singers pay a little more attention to those little details.
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The still photo shows a ring on his right hand, but the wedding ring is traditionally worn on the left. I can't tell from the video whether he's wearing a ring on his left hand.
ReplyDeleteHey guys! ...Keith Phares here. That is, in fact, my college ring (from the University of Richmond... Go Spiders!) on my right hand. If you look closely you can see the fake Tourmaline stone. I know, ...classy. We decided to keep the ring ...with Elmer being a college man and all. My wedding ring was held safely by stage mngmt in my valuables back. ...hope this clears up the confusion. KP
ReplyDeleteMichael must be a European! He sees a ring on the right hand and assumes it's a marriage band.
ReplyDeleteKeith is fantastic! Ring/no ring.
ReplyDelete