Television Reviews : ‘Melba’ a Look at Life of Celebrated Aussie Opera Star

Prima donnas, dead or alive, are fair game for every kind of exploitation. Virtually anything goes--from Du Maurier’s bemused Trilby to Willa Cather’s reasonably accurate portrayal of a diva based on the career of Olive Fremstad (the Swedish-American Wagnerian soprano) in “Song of the Lark.”

When the subject is a Maria Callas, the limits are boundless; fact and fiction commingle in cordial company. When the subject is such a venerable monument as Nellie Melba, the celebrated Australian soprano, the chronicler must stick fairly close to recorded historical fact.

Melba’s career has frequently been given literary, pictorial and cinematic treatment. The latest such venture, “Melba,” arrives from her native Australia as a four-part miniseries on “Great Performances,” begining tonight at 9 on Channels 28, 15 and 24, and continuing on consecutive Fridays.

There is not much razzle-dazzle in this portrayal of a storied career. It starts in homely fashion, and step by step records her progress as a student of the illustrious Mathilde Marchesi. The original Helen Porter Mitchell then became Nellie Melba, a stage name derived from her native Melbourne. Melba’s career was not instantly spectacular, though she encountered few serious obstacles to recognition.

Her voice was never large or dramatic; it was notable for its purity, its appealing quality and its extraordinary coloratura facility. Melba naturally gravitated to the opera stage, and her best known, endlessly repeated roles were Lucia, Gilda, Rosina and the like. She made only one serious misjudgment, when she attempted Brunnhilde in Wagner’s “Siegfried.” It was a major fiasco, and Melba more or less happily returned to a lifetime of coloratura warbling.

In this television version of her tempestuous life, Melba is prettily and somewhat facelessly acted by Linda Cropper, and sung by Yvonne Kenny, whose voice resembles the well-known recorded versions of Melba’s sound only slightly. It may have been a mistake to assign any singer to the role--there was only one Melba. Joan Greenwood manages the imperious Madame Marchesi with the expertise of long theatrical experience.

Rodney Fisher has directed with minimum ingenuity. There are far too many close-ups and pastoral scenes involving fellow Australians. The film is hardly to be taken as authentic biography, but as mild entertainment it will do for an idle slot.