You know how La Cieca gets when one of her darling Regie productions gets dissed sight unseen, as happened on these shores with last Sunday’s unveiling of the Hans Neuenfels Lohengrin at Bayreuth. (Not so much on this site, because La Cieca is happy to report that here at dear parterre.com all schools of opinion—even stupid ones—are given a full measure of respect.) So anyway, a photo or two of choristers in rat suits do not the experience of a production make. Ten minutes of video highlights is not the ideal solution either, but until some enterprising impresario in the U.S. imports Calixto Bieito’s take on Parsifal (or we all charter a package tour to Stuttgart), the following selection of video highlights will have to do as conversation fodder. (Anyone who finds extended video of the Neuenfels Lohengrin is asked to alert your doyenne!) Read more »
It looks like the Washington National Opera is going to be absorbed by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. [Wall Street Journal]
“Before the shoot, I Googled female rock singers like Courtney Love and Patti Smith, everyone I could think of, to check out their image. They all had bangs and this disheveled, unplanned look.” [Daily News]
So how about another angle on Mawrdew Czgowchwz? Since, at the end of the novel, the eponymous oltrano decides to take a brief hiatus from her métier of "musicry" to star in motion picture, how about we produce (in the boundless realm of imagination) a film based on the McCourt novel? Above, La Cieca's nominee for the title role, Cate Blanchett. Your suggestions for further casting? Read more »
The Sultana of the Sobriquets herself, Renée Fleming, has copped another cognomen. The Mom of Many Monikers has just been dubbed "la Grace Kelly della lirica" by no less than Il Corriere della Sera!
The premiere of a new production of Lohengrin at Bayreuth is obviously this week's hot topic. La Cieca suggests we continue on this thread thd discussion that began elsewhere on parterre.com and is also raging over at opera-l. (La Cieca invites the cher public and visitors to post links from other sites as well where the Neuenfels Lohengrin is discussed.) Read more »
La Cieca hears that a big axe just fell in the marketing department over at Sterling Cooper Draper Gelb. Look for a new director to be hired from outside the company.
Cher Public