Last week, during Lyric's splendid season opener performance of Manon, an older woman sitting next to me made a sound not quite a sarcastic scoff but something bordering on disbelief. She found it hard to fathom how Natalie Dessay could have dumped Jonas Kaufmann just like that for some old man named Brétigny. She said: But he's so boyishly handsome! So adorable and... something else I could not believe my ears when I heard her say it. She seemed smitten by J.K.'s undeniable charisma.
Chicago is under his spell. Young or old, gay or straight--or in-between--Kaufmann has an enviable effect on people, the like of which hasn't been felt since Franco Corelli polarized women the world over with his brutally suave and sexy stage presence during his prime. I wish he were singing with Angela Gheorghiu in this production for they both have a palpable, spine-tingling chemistry together. Their Traviata in 2006 was a revelation. They ought to perform it together more often. To see Angela's Violetta ache for Jonas's dashingly Byronic Alfredo is like seeing Garbo's Marguerite make passionate love to Robert Taylor's exceptionally handsome Armand. 
