Night, Mother
Among the celebs at the opening of Brecht’s Mother Courage presented by the Public Theater, glimpsed were Renee Fleming (who perhaps should have been reminded that she was on hand to see Mother Courage, not to be Mother Courage) , and the perennial Jessye Norman, whose transformation into Star Jones is now complete.
Yes Jess does look like she has had a few nips and tucks. I was recently in Aspen, Co where everyone too is stretched to an extreme degree!
Being in a theatre of the absurd mood as I type, would anyone pay to see either of these ladies in Beckett’s The Happy Day, where the lady monologues for over an hour while buried up to her waist(and finally her neck) in a mound of dirt?
LOLOL. Oh, La Cieca, that’s too funny!
I must add that I own some wonderful recordings with stretched Jess (4 last songs is one that I adore!!)
Actually, I really don;t think Jessye is stretched at all. I saw her in Paris a few months ago, and she did not look like this. Perhaps the picture is taken from a bad angle…
Interpolator, how is Paris treating you? I am in town and quite bored, and would be delighted to take you out for a drink…
Contact me at Octavian_Strauss@hotmail.com if you are around…
Is Jessye still singing Opera? Or is it just a recital thing now?
Last May, she sang two separate sets of performances at the Chatelet in Paris. The first was Les Nuits d’ete, followed by Dido and Aeneas. The second was Bluebeard’s castle. She handled both programs well, although she was really luminous in the first.
who was the Bluebeard? I mean, who can hold the stage opposite her?
I wasn’t at the Bluebeard, but I was in the Dido performances and she rocked it – the audiences just went wild both nights for her. It was a semi-staged affair with Russell Braun as Aeneas and Felicity Palmer (who stole the show, and rightly so) as the Sorceress.
She was a gracious colleague and also had fabulous costumes for the event. It doesn’t look as if she’s had facial surgery up close. She is much slimmer now than she was when I heard her in recital in 95 or 96.
May I mention that pride of honor in that production went to a rocking Belinda. And Barry Banks was also amazing!