Ugh!
Pronounced “oog,” as in Wowkle, that is. You may recall that La Cieca said something a few days ago about a rumored departure of soprano Andrea Gruber from a Met revival of La fanciulla del West scheduled for next season. Well, further information has filtered in that suggests a different story. You might say, in fact, that the Fanciulla has departed from Gruber. Latest word is that the revival of the Puccini western has been canceled, leaving both the soprano and her putative Dick (Salvatore Licitra) with some time on their hands midseason. Or will the Met recast the pair in some other suitable vehicle?
Perhaps the MET can send them on tour to some obscure place where they can’t torture as many unsuspecting opera lovers!
Licitra is torturing New Yorkers as we speak, but I would imagine that after an hour of Farina, he probably sounds pretty good!
I would probably rather hear a chained dog being abused by Hillary Clinton sing rather than Gruber. Her recent Turandot at LOC was wretched. I have heard BOTH the stories that La Cieca has reported and I have heard them from the same “usually” reliable source so who knows what is true or not. Either way it looks like no Gruber; the bigger question is does this mean no Fanciulla? It would be a shame to lose Fanciulla but good riddance to Gruber.
No Fanciulla on a Satrday matinee next year? I have been waiting for Addio California to come over the airwaves. Which role is actually more difficult for a soprano–Norma, or Minnie?