Monday, November 20, 2017

Farinelli -- and casting

I've long been fascinated with castrati.

Psychoanalyzing myself, I think this is due to things my mom said about my dad's unwillingness or inability to have sex with her after she was 40.  He also had a higher and higher voice as he got older, while she had a lower and lower voice.  It was very curious.  People calling in couldn't tell who was answering the phone.

I saw the movie about Farinelli.  Now there's a new Broadway play coming out.

I was, at one time, obsessed with the idea that maybe Michael Jackson was a castrato.  Now I don't think so. I heard him singing baritone and I heard him speaking with a low voice on a YouTube video, but at one time I was obsessed with that thought.

So it's been part of my sexual anorexia, being obsessed with men who are unable to have sex, like my dad -- be it gay men or men with emotional or impotence issues. I've been fascinated with that.

Of course, it appears from the historical literature that castrati could, in fact, have sex.  They just couldn't get women pregnant.

In any case, I've been frustrated with the casting: actors chosen to play Farinelli. Here are some portraits of him:


http://www.gettyimages.com/pictures/farinelli--singer-1988299#corrado-giaquinto-portrait-of-farinelli-italian-castrato-singer-picture-id122336133

Now it seems to me that a man who hasn't had testosterone since age 14 is not going to look at all like a man who has had.  He's not going to have as masculine a face. He's not going to have well-defined muscles, like a normal male body builder.  I think you see that in these pictures.  There is an androgyny about his appearance.

I think Michael Jackson cultivated that kind of appearance with his makeup and surgeries, as well.

Yet the actors that play Farinelli don't look at all androgynous


Also, in this photo, I think you can tell that the actor even has facial hair (well shaven, but still detectable, if only from the appearance of the skin and pores), which Farinelli would not have had.


I think they could do better with this casting. Maybe they could cast a trans-woman, or something.

For comparison, here are some other images of castrati:

Allesandro Moreschi







Carlo Scalzi: when I was obsessing about Michael Jackson, I particularly noted this posture, which was similar to one that Michael Jackson also took -- which I now suppose was a coincidence.



Francesco Bernadi


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