parterre box

Now, that’s more like it, La Cieca squealed to herself when she saw this morning’s news about the multi-venue simulcast red-carpet whoop-de-do surrounding the Met’s opening night production of Madama Butterfly. It’s a celebrity-centered universe we live in; no getting around that, so why indeed not promote the Metropolitan Opera as the most glamorous show in town? La Cieca herself will be at the curb near the red carpet hoping for a glimpse of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sean Connery, Goldie Hawn, Anjelica Huston, Iman, David Bowie, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini. (Al Roker, perhaps not so much.) [...]

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Here’s a YouTube clip of the original telecast of Luisa Miller, complete with the screamed “Brava Maria Callas!” before Renata Scotto‘s first solo. La Cieca is informed that (reasonably enough) this interruption had been edited out of the eagerly-awaited DVD version. Note, too, that the DVD will feature state-of-the-art video and audio restoration, unlike this rather faded VHS dub. Also new and fresh on YouTube, a clip courtesy of Premiere Opera of the all time champion Turandot team, Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli. La Nilsson’s closeups were apparently filmed separately and lip-synched, but that’s all to the good because this [...]

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After more than a quarter of a century, Renata Scotto gets the last word over that silly queen who made a career of disrupting her Met performances. The DVD of the “Live from the Met” telecast of Luisa Miller was released today, and is available at Amazon.com at a 30% discount off the list price. This is the performance of January 20, 1979, during which Fernando or whatever her name was shrieked “Brava Maria Callas!” in the instant of silence before Scotto launched into “Lo vidi, e ‘l primo palpito.” No word so far as to whether the DVD preserves [...]

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The Artists Formerly Known As The Love Couple made one of their now-rare duo appearances last weekend singing something called “Come Prima” at a BBC concert in London’s Hyde Park. The poster for the event suggests that Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna are shall we say, growing apart. Why the distance between the once-inseparable team? Don’t go blaming Sir Terry Wogan! But could it have something to do with the unbilled appearance of “hunky Romanian pop singer/actor” Stefan Banica Jr.? Mr. Banica, star of such film epics as Liceenii rock’n roll (1990) and Sexi harem Ada-Kaleh (1999), recently created the [...]

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That “Age of the Diva” soprano, Renee Fleming, swept into Los Angeles last weekend to lay down video tracks for her upcoming DVD of Traviata. Los Angeles Opera cleverly captialized on the public’s interest in America’s Sweetheart by selling high-priced tickets to the taping, calling the event a “gala opera performance.” We will of course have to wait for the DVD to see how it all turned out (and La Cieca’s breath is already bated!), but at least one critic was less than bowled over. Muses the LA Times’ Mark Swed, . . . what’s to be done about Fleming? [...]

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