parterre box

Since this week’s Unnatural Acts of Opera podcasts feature a classic live recording of Bizet’s Carmen, La Cieca thought it might be fun to remember the legendary chanteuse Leona Anderson with a clip of her performance of the Habanera. La Anderson, who was once described as “the missing link between Florence Foster Jenkins and Mrs. Miller” is perhaps best remembered from TV’s Ernie Kovacs Show, where she shared warbling duties with Edie Adams and Yma Sumac. Both the Bizet selection and this encore are excerpts from Anderson’s 1957 LP Music to Suffer By.