Met Opera’s snake audition winner is Princess the boa constrictor

A boa constrictor named Princess has been chosen to play the snake in the Metropolitan Opera’s upcoming production of Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” set at a 1950s Coney Island carnival. The New York opera house held auditions for the role, with the snake handler evaluating each animal before selecting Princess on a trial basis.

The handler is Zoe Ziegfeld, a carnival performer-turned-opera actor cast as the snake charmer in the production. Ziegfeld takes each snake, lets it slither and wrap around, then hoists the animal over their head, rehearsing what they will do under the bright lights at center stage for each performance.

“I need to know that the animal is comfortable with people and with what we are doing,” Ziegfeld said.

Princess, a yellow-peach boa constrictor described as having a better visual presence on stage, will move forward in rehearsals. A slightly smaller brown boa constrictor named Nala from a second audition will be Princess’ understudy.

“We will be moving forward with Princess (the big sun-glow boa constrictor who is yellow-peach) in rehearsals on a trial basis! She is a wonderful snake, and the trial is not about her, but rather about me and my strength,” Ziegfeld wrote in an email after the auditions were over.

This is the third time Ziegfeld has played the role of the snake charmer in the Met’s adaptation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1790 opera. In Mozart’s original, two Italian soldiers decide to test their lovers’ fidelity by pretending to head off to war, then disguise themselves and try to seduce each other’s girlfriends. In the Met’s version, the setting is a 1950s Coney Island carnival complete with vibrant scenery and sideshow performers.

Ziegfeld came to the role after spending a couple of seasons on Coney Island doing eight snake-charming shows a day. When they tried out several years ago, live snakes were not allowed in the audition space, so Ziegfeld brought video of their snake-charming act and hammered home their carnival sideshow bona fides by knocking a nail into their own nasal cavity in what was called the Human Blockhead act.

“The music’s different. The money is different. It’s a pleasure to entertain. And with snakes, it’s a delight to know that there are people watching who are in awe and people who are terrified. And those things happen at the Met and at Coney , so I would say they are more alike than different, to be honest,” Ziegfeld said.

The snakes came to their audition through Nancy Novograd and her company All Tame Animals. Novograd got into the business when her horse appeared onstage at the Met in a production of “Carmen,” and now she provides the opera house with everything from elephants to insects.

The first two snakes to audition were a bit small, and one might have clashed with Ziegfeld’s top, according to Novograd.

“Animals have to perform as do human talent. Sometimes they have a set type of behaviors that they have to demonstrate. And sometimes they just have to get along with the talent,” Novograd said. “So in this case, they have to be the right color, size, and Zoe has to like them.”