Norman Lebrecht has lost his fucking mind. My second favorite in this rabid rant is how Wieland Wagner (the “competent” stage director) had the middle name “Adolf.” (Wieland was born in 1917, six years before his mother Winifred met the fellow Lebrecht insinuates was his namesake.) The number one brain-fart in the piece is Lebrecht’s utterly vomitous attempt to guilt-associate Siegfried Wagner‘s (rumored) gay orientation with Nazism. Lebrecht’s idee fixe is the “death” of classical music. He should worry more about his own serial-killing of intelligent classical music criticism.
Mean, moody, magnificent Mari Lyn has finally (if posthumously) made her debut on DVD, thanks to the equally (if not more so) magnificent Donald Collup. Mme. Lyn, variously called “Hogcolleratura” and “La Traviyenta,” regaled the public access airwaves in the mid-1980s with a series called “The Golden Treasury of Song,” featuring the blond-bewigged “singing hostess” warbling her way through everything from “Casta diva” to “Ma Curly-Headed Baby.” Donald has anthologized La Lyn’s greatest moments (and worst quarters of an hour) into three DVDs that La Cieca is certain are destined to give this and future generations hours upon hours of delight. An audio clip of Mme. Lyn reading the letter from La traviata is one of the all-time favorite downloads from parterre.com, but, believe me, Mari Lyn is an artist who needs to be seen to be appreciated in her complete fulsomeness. La Cieca urges, entreats, and cajoles you go go immediately to Donald’s website to order these glorious documents of “the art of mal canto.”
La Cieca hears that performances of Medea featuring Anna Caterina Antonacci this summer at the Chatelet will be taped for eventual DVD release. The production is from Toulouse, where la Antonacci won rapturous reviews for her first incarnation of Cherubini’s antiheroine.
La Cieca is just asking — why should the Web site of that prominent American baritone suddenly go offline? This artist (recently at the pinnacle of his career) has done musicals before, but this fancy footwork looks like something from Chicago! And which switch-hitting intendant is making noises about quitting his summer job? Is he feeling cooped up, or is it just that he wants to spend more time looking at New York City real estate?
Even as La Cieca writes this, the evergreen Vera Galupe-Borszkh is preparing to go onstage for her first-ever Duchesse de Krakenthorp in Michigan Opera Theater’s Fille du Regiment. As La Cieca understands it (reports are somewhat sketchy thus far), La Dementia is graciously jumping in at short notice for Shirley Verrett, who has sung(?) the Duchesse in earlier performances of the Donizetti tuner. More on this momentous story as it develops. Update (June 12): In fact, Mme. Galupe-Borszkh performed the entire run of Fille, though curiously Verrett’s name is still listed on MOT’s website. Final performance is today’s matinee. No [...]
“This week, I’m using Crème de la Mer for my skin, and products from Scott Barnes, the make-up artist who was responsible for J.Lo’s glow. His trio of pink geisha-inspired blushers make my day. I have my hair cut by Vartan Vartali and coloured by Michael Stinchcomb, who’s a fan and travels all round the world looking after me. And twice a year I go clothes-shopping. My wardrobe has become very streamlined. I buy from a handful of designers — Gianfranco Ferré, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto.” Who else but Renaaay, talking to the Sunday Times? (And did I mention [...]
So La Cieca has been thinking about joining the pod people; that is, she wants to try her hand at podcasting. One idea off the top of La Cieca’s well-coiffed head is something called “Daily Dose of Diva,” a mix of some of my favorite opera recordings and a bit of yakking thrown in. But what’s important is what you want — so let’s do a little informal market research. What kind of content would you like to download from the parterre podcast? Complete operas? Opera highlights? Potpourri shows? Themed shows (a la George Jellinek)? Interviews? Leave a comment or [...]
Well, Mr. Vilar, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that you fell $1 million short of meeting bail and so you’re staying in the slammer. The good news is that your cellmate could be Russell Crowe.
Cher Public