Curtain up!
“It’s always a treat to start the season with a pleasant surprise, and an exciting new dramatic soprano is one of the nicest discoveries of all—particularly when she heads up one of the strongest ensemble casts the Metropolitan Opera has fielded in years.” That’s our editor James beginning his 2005-06 season as a reviewer in Gay City News with critiques of Ariadne auf Naxos and Ariane et Barbe-bleu.
“though I do wish she would at least attempt to sing real trills instead of copping out with tuned giggles” — Oh bravo, James! I couldn’t agree more. This is not a moment for acting; it’s a moment for singing, damn it! That almost spoiled my evening at the Met last week.
Somewhere in the back of closet, behind the Mardi Gras masks and teddy bears, under the Mapplethorpe photo books, I have a box that I think contains a pirated cassette of Grace Bumbry singing “Ariane et B-B.” Am I hallucinating, or does such a thing exist?
I must start digging for it and give it a serious listen. I haven’t heard it for years. This review makes me want to hear and see it.
Amazin’ Grace did sing this role in Paris in 1975. If you find the cassette, La Cieca would just *kill* for a dub of that….
Sounds like the very raison d’etre of “Unnatural Acts”.
I’m picturing a modern dress staging, with Bumbry stunning in a one-shouldered Halston gown. If that’s not what really happened, please don’t tell me.