The transformation is almost complete.
La Cieca must be getting her librettos confused. She knows that Baby Doe promises she will wait for Horace Tabor near the entrance to the Mineshaft. And, of course, back in the late ’70s, any number of Gotham-based operatic evenings wound up at this venereal venue. But this is the first time La Cieca has ever heard that Manon Lescaut was a devotee of S&M — as evidenced by her participation in this blistering scene:
This photo (by Dan Rest) is from Playbill Arts’ feature on the new Lyric Opera of Chicago production production of the Puccini opera. And note that the caption reads: “bottom: Karita Mattila as Manon Lescaut.” And La Cieca was sure Karita was a top!
Another one of those talkative “Met insiders” has spilled a whole canful of beans regarding the upcoming Peter Gelb regime at the Met. The new GM, we are told, plans to import “alternative” productions of the warhorse operas (e.g., Boheme, Tosca, Traviata) to serve as a kind of artistic counterpoint to the ultra-traditional Zeffirelli & Co. stagings currently in the repertoire. According to La Cieca’s source, the old stagings will not be junked, just shelved for a season or two and then dusted off again. One point of the exercise seems to be to tempt megastars to sing standard rep at the Met. For example, Gelb is reportedly shopping around for an innovative production of Tosca for the Karita Mattila‘s first Met performances of the Roman diva in the 2010-2011 season. La Mattila, we are told, is now turning up her nose at revivals of productions that were not “built around her.” (One can almost hear the Finnish soprano sniffing, “Like here in little Dallas, my God!”) The problem, our confidant continues, is that Mattila has been less than pleased with “her” productions thus far at the Met, to the point that she refuses to reprise her smash-hit Salome here in New York.
Last week, as you’ll recall, our Unnatural Opera was Die Frau Ohne Schatten, one of the most grandiose and over-the-top works ever to grace the stage. La Cieca thought her public’s palate could stand a little cleansing, so this time around we will hear a more intimate work, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. This performance is from the Maggio Musicale in Florence in 1967, and it stars the definitive Nemorino and Adina of the era, Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Scotto. Now, you wouldn’t believe what hoops this unpretentious opera has sent La Cieca jumping though in her never-ending quest to enhance your [...]
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