OPERA INDEX MEMBERSHIP PARTY

Joseph Eletto

Michael Fennelly, Josh Quinn, Evan LeRoy Johnson, Jane Shaulis, John Brancy, Ryan Speedo Green and Opera Index President Murray Rosenthal

We can scarcely believe what goes on in church basements these days!  Luminaries of the opera world joined a roomful of opera lovers to celebrate Opera Index and its 31st competition.  Over $50,000. was awarded to 15 young artists, 5 of whom performed for members of Opera Index, an organization that supports young singers--an organization you should join if you haven't already.  Membership is a paltry $45!

You may notice that only four of these young artists are in the photo above, the reason being that baritone Joe Eletto was obliged to leave for a rehearsal immediately after his vocally and dramatically excellent performance of "Come un'ape ne' giorni d'aprile" from Rossini's La Cenerentola.  He conveyed every nuance of humor as Dandini comments on the pair of stepsisters.  Rossini underscored the humor with a clutch of staccato notes which Mr. Eletto handled effectively.

Bass-baritone Josh Quinn has a large round and mature sound which he employed effectively in "O, du mein holder Abendstern" from Wagner's Tannhäuser.  His ardent delivery made the aria incredibly moving and the size of his voice did not diminish his flexibility in the melismatic passage.  Mr. Fennelly's accompaniment was particularly lovely.

Tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson has a sweet youthful sound with an impressive expansion at the top and a sensitive touch with dynamics which served him well in "Salut! demeure chaste et pure" from Gounod's Faust.  He maintained that lovely even French line and exhibited some very nice diction.

Baritone John Brancy has a soulful delivery that imbues every word with deep meaning and we greatly enjoyed his vocally refined performance of "Pierrot's Tanzlied" from Korngold's Die tote Stadt, much as we enjoyed the two Korngold songs he sang last night at New York Festival of Song.  This one is filled with nostalgia and yearning and went straight to the heart.

Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green ended the recital on a humorous note as he gave an outstanding performance of "La calunnia" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.  His large frame and expansive sound combined with an abundance of dramatic flourishes to leave the audience smiling from ear to ear.

All of these young artists are busy singing around the country and have impressive resumés.  How fortunate we felt to have them serenading us!  Since there was not a female winner present, Jane Shaulis contributed a delightful performance of the very funny Cole Porter song "The Physician".

As if that were not enough, Mr. Brancy thrilled us with an encore--"Maria" from Bernstein's West Side Story.  He spun the high note so beautifully!  And Mr. Green sang "This Nearly Was Mine" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific with great depth of feeling.  We are convinced that the "American Musical" is just another iteration of opera.

Mr. Fennelly's skill as accompanist has been appreciated for several years.  The evening ended with a buffet dinner supplied by Opera Index members.  It seems unnecessary to say that those who love good music love good food.  We left satisfied in body as well as spirit.

There are ten more winners to be enjoyed and appreciated at upcoming events.  For further information, go to www.operaindexinc.org.  Join the party!

© meche kroop

MAN OF THE (50 minute) HOUR

Janai Brugger, John Brancy, Steven Blier and Michael Barrett

Our dear Steven Blier seems never to run out of original ideas for recitals for New York Festival of Song, of which he is the Artistic Director.  Last night's recital was entitled "Art Song on the Couch: Lieder in Freud's Vienna" and Mr. Blier introduced the program from the piano by describing Gustav Mahler's four-hour session walking with psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.  He waggishly pointed out that it seemed to have helped and left Mahler transformed for the better.

We in the audience had but two hours to be transformed for the better.  Reading the program notes describing the circumstances in Victorian Vienna up to the 1930's gave an excellent background for appreciation of the music.  A society pretending to be respectable and controlled was seething with rebellion underneath, just as a person with a conservative exterior may be hiding some pretty wild secrets.

New ground was being broken in all fields and so it was with music.  We no longer hear the strophic melodies and reassuring harmonies of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. Instead we are hearing experiments in rhythm, strange harmonies, and a searching quality in the melodies.

Bringing this challenging music to vivid life were two superb artists--one well known to us for several years since Juilliard days--baritone John Brancy-- and the other a dazzling soprano new to NYFOS--Janai Brugger.  It's thrilling to witness the meteoric rise of someone we have long appreciated and it's thrilling to hear someone as a recitalist whom we have previously heard only on the opera stage (as Liu in Puccini's Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera).

The evening opened and closed with Mahler.  The first set of songs comprised Herr Mahler's "Erinnerung" and his wife Alma Mahler's "Laue Sommernacht".  The first made use of Mr. Brancy's baritone and Ms. Brugger's soprano in alternating stanzas exploring the relationship between song and love.  The final couplet was sung as a duet and we found the entire song quite lovely.  

But Frau Mahler's "Laue Sommernacht" was even lovelier with it's intense yet intimate feel.  She was taught by Alexander Zemlinsky and Herr Mahler was disapproving of her composing--perhaps because of societal restrictions or perhaps out of envy.  Who knows?

After many wonderful songs by Hugo Wolf, Erich Korngold, Arnold Schoenberg, Alexander Zemlinsky and Richard Strauss, we were treated to an encore of a 20th c. Tom Lehrer song "Alma" which satirizes Frau Mahler's succession of famous husbands. We will spare you the lengthy list of lovers.  What a gal!

The songs were nearly all new to us with the exception of two cabaret type songs which we had heard at the Austrian Cultural Forum.  Hugo Wolf's "Erstes Liebeslied eines Mädchens" was sung by Ms. Brugger who communicated all the naughty suggestiveness of the lyrics.  She did the same for Schoenberg's "Der genügsamer Liebhaber", a song one would expect to have been sung by a man.

But Mr. Blier is fond of gender-free casting and put Zemlinsky's "Das bucklichte Männlein" into the mouth of Mr. Brancy who picked up the humor ball and ran with it all the way to the goal post.  (Forgive us our sports metaphor.)  Mr. Brancy is usually a contained stage presence, using vocal colors to convey the drama so this was novel and fun seeing him let loose.  Here, although the lyrics are funny, the piano line conveys substantial anxiety.

Ms. Brugger's finest moments were in "Frühlingsfeier" when she cried out for Adonis and in "Drei Ophelia-Lieder" both by Strauss.  Her dramatic instincts are as fine as her beautiful instrument.

We also enjoyed Mr. Brancy's amusing delivery of Korngold's unpublished early song "Die Geniale".  Short but sweet.

The two fine singers joined voices for the final work on the program "Arie aus dem Spiegel von Arcadien".  Apparently we were in a particular mood for humor last night. We had trouble imagining the super-serious Schoenberg setting the light-hearted words of the long-dead Emanuel Schikaneder.  But he did and we enjoyed it.

We measure the success of this type of recital by how many hours of reading they inspire.  We have been reading about the denizens of turn-of-the-20th c. Vienna for hours.  What a fascinating junction of time and place--zeit und stelle.

ⓒ meche kroop

ARIA vs. LIED

Ken Noda, Amanda Majeski, and Ryan McKinny

In an all-too-brief George London Foundation for Singers recital at the Morgan Library yesterday we had the opportunity to hear a program in which both singers, soprano Amanda Majeski and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny, were able to exhibit their talents in both opera and in lieder.  Significantly, each chose an aria from an opera in which they recently starred.

Ms. Majeski has had quite a success singing the role of Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito--both at Semperoper Dresden and at Teatro Real in Madrid.  Luckily for us, she performed the character's final aria "Ecco il punto, o Vitellia...No piu di fiori" in which the manipulative woman finally examines her conscience and decides to confess her guilt to avoid the death of her loyal friend Sesto.  Ms. Majeski threw herself into this role heart and soul.

We heard Ms. Majeski when she won a George London award a few years ago; we heard her again in Santa Fe in 2011 when she sang Ottone in Vivaldi's Griselda, in which she was the highlight of a deplorable production. Yesterday she sang with all the involvement that we missed when she stepped into the role of Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro.  In this case we found her dramatically moving, tracing Vitellia's evolution from one mood to the next.  Her embellishments were as lovely as they were in the Vivaldi.  We heard a lot of power in the lower register and a big blooming top.

Equally impressive was her encore--"Song to the Moon" from Dvořak's Russalka.  She also sang three songs by Richard Strauss, including our favorite "Die Nacht".  Although suffering from some kind of vocal distress, it was barely noticeable as she employed word coloring and dynamic variety to augment the fine resonance of her sizable instrument.

It was during the Strauss that we most appreciated the artistry of collaborative pianist Ken Noda.  Always supportive and never overwhelming, he seems to sing along with the singer through his fingers.

Also a George London Foundation winner, bass-baritone Ryan McKinny is a most versatile artist, known in many genres but not heard often enough in New York.  He wisely chose to sing "Die Frist ist um" from Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, a role he succeeded in at the Glimmerglass Festival.  We Wagnerphiles in the audience were blown away.  His voice has power and nuance in equal measure; he painted the aural picture of a desperate man at the end of his rope.

He also excelled in the opening piece on the program "Bravo, signor padrone!...Se vuol ballare" which he sang with vocal subtlety and dramatic energy, creating the Figaro character we all know and love.

That is why we were puzzled by his duet with Ms M. "Das war sehr gut, Mandryka".  This scene is the culmination of a stressed-out courtship and we desperately wanted Mandryka to just look at Arabella; if he wasn't feeling it, we weren't feeling it.

Their encore duet from the close of Act I of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel was nicely sung but Mr. McKinny as Bill again did not relate to Ms. Majeski's Julie.  He sang ardently but he sang it to the audience, not to his stage partner.  How odd!

His solo performance of three selections from Schubert's Schwanengesang was powerful; the tender but passionate "Ständchen" was followed by the lugubrious "Der Atlas" and the anguished "Der Doppelgänger". We cannot recall ever hearing an American singer with such perfect German diction.  He should be teaching a master class!  Every umlaut was observed, every final consonant enunciated, every diphthong clear.

Speaking of master classes, we are overjoyed that Mr. Noda supplements his many other duties and accomplishments by giving masterclasses at Juilliard and coaching young singers in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

We are already witnessing the results; anyone under his tutelage bears evidence of his genius.  He gives the piano part the same colors as the singer gives the words.  We are mystified about how this is achieved but the mystery is part of the magnificence.

ⓒ meche kroop

WHO'S PULLING THE STRINGS?

The Doll and the Soldier--photo courtesy of Salzburg Marionettes

We have been great fans of the Salzburg Marionette Theater ever since we saw them in Salzburg.  At that time we enjoyed their versions of our favorite Mozart operas. When they visit New York, we call it a special occasion.  The last time they came to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, we reviewed their amazing Ring Cycle; they used recorded music of course, but gave delightful representation to the characters of Wagner's magnum opus.

This visit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, was something entirely new but operatic in its own way.  The program was entitled La Boîte à Joujoux and if you expected it to be strictly for children you would have been mistaken. We cannot speak about the afternoon performances but at the evening performance the mainly adult audience was entranced while the few children present laughed out loud at the episodes of violence and dismemberment (!).

The program began with a curious curtain raiser in which a girl in a green mini-dress accompanied by her friend is courted by two very different men--one shy, awkward and affectionate, the other a dashing show-off with some dazzling moves.  What was most interesting about this episode was that despite the blank featureless faces of the marionettes, the highly articulated bodies told us everything we needed to know.

In a meta-dramatic move, one of the puppeteers came around in front of the white panels which composed the set, removed the legs of the two men and exchanged them.  Now, the awkward young man had the moves while the cocky guy stumbled around.  This did not solve the girl's dilemma. We couldn't help thinking about the ending of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in which the women are torn between two men.

Although it was surreal, our thoughts ran to the philosophical--in many respects we are not responsible for the gifts we are given in life and feel powerless when these gifts are lost. Of course, our special situation as sentient human beings provides us with tools to deal with our fates; marionettes can only be victims.

Obviously, that is something the kids did not get.  What they did get was the cartoon-like humor of the legs skittering away across the stage and the head-banging of the disappointed would-be lover as well as the head-butting rivalry of the two boys.

Meanwhile, gorgeously costumed characters from several Mozart operas waltzed in and out of the scene, often imitating the physical actions of the four modern youths. This was artistically and visually pleasing if not immediately comprehensible.  Equally strange was the large red boot that waltzed across the stage.

The music by Robert Schumann was nothing short of glorious, as performed by Orion Weiss on the piano.  We heard "Papillons, Op.2", "Blumenstück in D flat, Op. 19", and "Novelette No. 8 in F sharp minor, Op. 21"--each a jewel with melodies galore. Perhaps modern music lacks melody because Mozart, Schumann and Schubert used them all up!

Following an intermission, one of the puppeteers came out with a giant key and wound up the sleeping Mr. Weiss for the titular work which Claude Debussy called a "children's book ballet". The entire evening was marked by the puppeteers, all dressed in black but with no pretense of invisibility, interacting with the puppets as well as with Mr. Weiss.

There was an adorable doll with golden curls and a yellow dress whose perfectly articulated feet allowed her to dance on point; her arabesque could not be faulted. She was courted by the stalwart wooden soldier and the lewd and long-armed Pulcinella who required all the puppeteers to animate him.  Another love triangle! (See yesterday's review).

There was a wonderful battle in which the squad of wooden soldiers pelt Pulcinella with a pea shooter and canned peas.  Pulcinella retaliated with a cannon ball and the doll's soldier falls in battle.  Not to worry, because in a touching scene she brings him back to life and a standing position.  It was difficult not to be moved.  One is surprised at how rapidly the marionettes and puppets become "real" to us in the same way that animated characters in films do.

Finally, the doll and the soldier buy a farm with lots of sheep and ducks.  Twenty years later they are successful, fat and prosperous.

Mr. Weiss' performance of the Debussy work was filled with wonder; he is a quietly sensitive pianist who brought out all the subtleties of the score with technical perfection.

The Salzburg Marionette Theater has been performing for over a century.  For many years travelling puppet theaters were the only theatrical performances permitted by the Catholic church.  Now, of course, with theater and opera available and cherished all over Austria, they exist because they have created a unique and enchanting method of storytelling.  We hope they will be around for another century to delight and entertain many generations to come.

© meche kroop

THE PAST INTRUDES ON THE PRESENT

Benjamin Robinson and Molly Mustonen (photo by Robert J. Saferstein)

The Little Opera Company That Could--Chelsea Opera--having won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, is on a roll.  Last night they presented two one-act works by the prolific Henry Mollicone, with libretti by John S. Bowman.  Each opera was commissioned by an opera company with the stipulation that the work relate to the home town of the company.  The theme of each would appear to be a blending of the past and present.

The brief curtain-raiser, The Face on the Barroom Floor, was commissioned by Central City Opera in 1978 and has been performed annually in Colorado ever since. It involves a love triangle from Gold Rush days, one that comes to a violent end. The story is told within the framework of the present day; the love triangle and its violent end are recapitulated.  

The beautiful Molly Mustonen used her lustrous soprano to good advantage as she portrayed a present day chorister as well as the historic saloon singer.  Lyric tenor Benjamin Robinson sang sweetly as the chorister's beau in the present and also as the starving artist of long ago who pays his bar tab by painting the saloon singer's portrait on the floor.  Baritone John E. Callison, whom we have been hearing and enjoying more and more lately, made a fine bartender.

With meager financial resources, set designer Anna Yates managed to create a very believable saloon with faux stained-glass windows, a simple bar and a few tables and chairs (amusingly occupied by company co-founders Leonarda Priore and Lynne Hayden-Findlay playing denizens of the bar).

Mr. Mollicone was present for the occasion; his piano was accompanied by flutist Kevin Willois and cellist Emily Brausa from the Chelsea Opera Chamber Ensemble. The music is jazzy and there are touches of American folk melodies woven in.

The second and more substantial work on the program, the 1981 Emperor Norton, was commissioned by the San Francisco Opera and deals with a legendary character in that city's past.  He was at least eccentric and probably quite mad as he declared himself Emperor.  He died as a derelict on the street.

The interesting treatment of the story is told in a somewhat mystical way.  Two actors are mysteriously summoned to audition for a role in a play about Norton.  The playwright, magnificently performed by one Vira Slywotzky (a singer we just love to hear, calling herself a soprano but with a voice that suggests strong mezzo coloring), uses their help to finish the play.

The two actors--the excellent soprano Rosa Betancourt and the fine tenor David Gordon--are soon joined by an imposing figure from another time.  We shall know him by his costume!  He is, of course, the spirit of Norton (big-voiced baritone Justin Ryan) and he has come to offer correctives to his reputation and the way he is being represented in the play.  The ending has a lovely twist and is marked by a marvelous quartet.

For this opera, conductor Noby Ishida took over. Mr. Mollicone at the piano was joined by violinist Stanichka Dimitrova and cellist Emily Brausa. Thankfully, the music is tonal and lyrical.

We particularly enjoyed Ms. Betancourt's impersonation of the dancer Lola Montez, which had the audience laughing out loud, and her impersonation of a Chinese woman who sang a stunning melismatic aria.

Stage direction by Ms. Findlay was always effective.  Costumes in both operas were also designed by Ms. Findlay with some contributions from the Theater Development Fund Costume Collection.  We particularly admired Ms. Mustonen's saloon singer gown and the period-appropriate 1940's costumes for Emperor Norton.

The only thing missing was titles.  Somehow they are not deemed necessary when an opera is sung in English but, as we frequently point out, English is more difficult to sing and more difficult to understand than Italian or German, especially in the upper registers.  We missed quite a bit of Norton's story because of this.  We heard enough and the acting was sufficiently effective that we understood the story but we would have enjoyed it more if we'd heard all the details.

(c) meche kroop

THE DIVA NEXT DOOR

David Zobel and Joyce DiDonato (photo by Chris Lee)

A glamorous and revered superstar of the opera stage, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato revealed her mettle as a recitalist Tuesday night in Carnegie Hall.  All wrapped up in one woman are the engaging and communicative entertainer and the naturalness of the proverbial girl next store-- from Kansas no less.  With flawless technique and enough expressiveness for two artists, she wowed the audience with a program the theme of which was "A Journey Through Venice".  Accompanied by the excellent David Zobel at the piano, she exhibited a lovely liquid tone and superb phrasing in every selection.  

As a great fan of bel canto, we were thrilled to hear so much beautiful singing on one program. She opened the program with two arias from Antonio Vivaldi's opera Ercole su'l Termodonte, written in 1723 while the composer was in Venice.  "Onde chiare che sussurrate" was gloriously baroque and filled with trills in both piano and vocal line, all executed to perfection.  The text is one of anxious longing on the part of the Princess Ippolita and the rippling stream can be heard in the constant arpeggios in the piano.  The same character sings the aria "Amato ben" and we felt the aching longing when Ms. DiDonato stressed the appoggiatura before the final note. Although the plot is not of the ilk favored by today's fashion, if the other arias are halfway as good, we would love to see/hear the entire opera. 

The use of the microphone for speaking between songs was welcome because we wanted to hear every word Ms. DiDonato had to say as she related anecdotes about each set of songs.  Paul Verlaine's text for Cinq melodies de Venise is so lovely that it has been set by Debussy, Saint Saëns and Sokolov.  But Ms. DiDonato chose the setting by Gabriel Fauré for her program and we were delighted to be hearing it for the first time.  We are always reminded of the Fragonard paintings when we hear the lively slightly satirical "Mandoline". The peaceful quality of "En sourdine" was a lovely contrast.  We found "C'est l'extase" somewhat less languorous than the setting by Debussy but nonetheless quite lovely.

As many times as we have heard Rossini's "La regatta veneziana" we never tire of hearing the three distinct moods of Anzoleta and her feelings for Momolo, her gondolier lover.  She encourages him in the first song; in the second she is cheering him on and we feel her breathless excitement and anxiety; in the third song she is all warm and fuzzy, rewarding her Momolo for his win with kisses and compliments.  Ms. DiDonato made us feel as if we ourselves were watching the race.  Rossini composed this brief cycle in the Venetian dialect as part of his Péchés de vieillesse, long after he stopped writing operas.

In contrast to that cycle from his mature period, we heard an aria from his youthful opera Otello.  While we do no wish to take anything away from Verdi's masterpiece, we would love to see a production of Rossini's Otello, based on the gorgeous "Assisa al piè d'un salice…Deh, calma", known as the Willow Song.  There is a gorgeously melodic introduction by the piano followed by the sorrowful lament of the distracted Desdemona.  Even without an orchestra, the two artists brought the scene to dramatic life.  The piano becomes turbulent when Desdemona gets distracted by her grief and anxiety.

Compared with most 20th c. English composers we would have to grant Michael Head a lot of credit for his ability to write for the voice and to match the vocal line to both text and music.  His Three Songs of Venice were evocative and Ms. DiDonato sang the text with far better diction than that to which we are accustomed.  That quality can make or break a performance in a recital of art songs in which the words are so important.  Ms. DiDonato's artistry in word coloring added to the pleasure.

Still, for melody and singability, we must give the prize to Reynaldo Hahn, from an earlier generation.  We heard selections from Venezia sung in gorgeous Italian and were swooning.  The rippling rolling chords in the piano and the melismatic singing in "La barcheta" made this romantic tale our favorite.  We also enjoyed the much less romantic "L'avertimento" in which the poet warns his friends against a beautiful girl with the heart of a tiger and the irony of "Che pecà" in which a man expresses his ambivalence about getting over a frantic passion.  Ms. DiDonato's acting was incomparable.

Rossini's "Canzonetta Spagnuola" with its vocal fireworks and gradual accelerando made the perfect encore.  We were totally satisfied but--wait--there was one final encore "Non ti scordar di me" by Ernesto de Curtis. We felt sorry for the lone couple who were running to catch a train; we wouldn't have missed a single note of it.

ⓒ meche kroop

CARDONA'S PAGLIACCI

Daniel Cardona and cast of I Pagliacci at SOPAC

It was an out-of-state journey but it was worth it to hear one of our favorite realismo operas with a fine cast of worthwhile singers.  As Founder of the Martha Cardona Theater, Daniel Cardona has a keen ear for good voices and tonight proved himself to be a fine director as well, in a semi-staged production of Ruggero Leoncavallo's beloved 1892 opera which deals with the theme of life imitating art.

The composer claimed that his libretto was based upon the murder of one of his family's servants when he was a child, but a French playwright believed he stole the story and sued him for plagiarism. We may never learn the truth.

The action takes place in Calabria a few decades earlier.   Nedda, sung by the exciting soprano Kristin Sampson, is married to Canio, the head of a troupe of traveling actors (sung with ringing tone by Mexican-Italian tenor Mauricio Trejo).  The backstory is that he found her starving in the streets and gave her a profession and matrimonial legitimacy.

He is a good-hearted man but jealous and possessive.  When he learns from another member of his troupe, the crippled and embittered Tonio (performed with power by baritone Daniel Lickteig) that Nedda has been seen embracing one of the men of the town--Silvio (sung by the romantic lyric baritone Kevin Wetzel), his rage gets the better of him and intrudes upon that night's performance.

The performance, so popular in Southern Italy in that period, is one of commedia del'arte and the stock characters include Columbina, the flirtatious wife--enacted by Nedda; Pagliaccio, the cuckolded husband--enacted by Canio; Arlecchino the lover--enacted by Beppe (interesting young tenor Chaz'men Williams-Ali); and the Servant Taddeo--enacted by Tonio.

Without scenery and with minimal playing area, the artists made the story clear and believable.  It was a directorial masterstroke to have Silvio sitting in the offstage audience.  When he observes (SPOILER ALERT) Canio losing control and stabbing Nedda he rushes onstage and suffers the same fate.  We in the audience feel more involved than usual since we were also subjected to Nedda selling us tickets for the "performance".

Highlights of the performance include Mr. Lickteig's prologue, Canio's heartbreaking "Vesti la giubba", Nedda's aria about freedom "Stridono lassu" and the affecting love duet between Nedda and Silvio as he persuades her to elope with him after the performance. The Italian was so clearly sung and the acting so effective that the occasional problems with the projected titles mattered little.

The production at the South Orange Performing Arts Center was a collaboration between the Martha Cardona Theater, The Mid Atlantic Opera Orchestra, conducted by Jason C. Tramm, and the Seton Hall University Chorus which sang the vesper chorus quite beautifully.

For more information on the upcoming Tosca, see their website.
www.themarthacardonatheater.com.  We are familiar with the cast and you won't be disappointed.

(c) meche kroop