Gala Gloria Swanson (sixtyish at the time) trills out a tune from a musical version of Sunset Blvd. that, alas, never made it off the drawing board.
On the current episode of the all-new Unnatural Acts of Opera, the Apocryphal Opera Anecdote Theatre of the Air presents the two-act radio drama “Adelina Patti’s Shoe.” Also in this episode: La Cieca spills the beans about the Met’s planned German repertoire through 2012. Oh, and did she mention Act 2 of Der Barbier von Bagdad, starring Sena Jurniac, Rudolf Schock, and Gottlob Frick? Unnatural Acts of Opera.
The scene from Candide that was the bone of contention between Robert Carsen and Stéphane Lissner.
La Cieca and sidekick Milton Host are back with another rarity: Der Barbier von Bagdad by Peter Cornelius. Joining them in the studio with repurposed commentary: a formidable diva of the Johnson era. (No, not Lyndon Johnson. Edward Johnson.) Act 1 is available now at Unnatural Acts of Opera.
Good times and bum times — She saw them all, but my dear,She’s no longer here.The actress everyone is eulogizing as the “definitive Lily Munster” had another, in La Cieca’s opinion far more important credit. In 1971 Yvonne de Carlo created the role of Carlotta Campion in Follies, and introduced the showbiz anthem “I’m Still Here.” As we all know, Stephen Sondheim wrote that song while out of town, replacing “Can That Boy Foxtrot.” Which, La Cieca supposes, makes La de Carlo responsible for the cult status of that more racy Sondheim ditty as well. Yvonne de Carlo died on [...]
“In Leonard Bernstein‘s clever one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti, the heroine describes a gaudy movie musical as so much ‘Technicolor twaddle.’ If Tan Dun‘s new work The First Emperor (heard at the Metropolitan Opera on December 29) can hardly be dismissed as twaddle, it never attains the epic status to which it aspires.” Our publisher JJ passes judgment, as usual, in Gay City News.
Legendary diva Nazimova in a scene from her 1921 film version of Camille.
The all-new (or at least somewhat-new) Unnatural Acts of Opera relaunched this morning at 8 a.m., only 12 hours behind schedule. Thrill to the dulcet voiceovers of new guy Milton Host! Delight in La Cieca‘s flattering new microphone placement! Tingle with excitement as the superstar team of Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills sing I puritani! And La Cieca thinks you will enjoy the debut of a brand new segment, “Apocryphal Opera Anecdote Theatre,” a radio drama depicting great moments in operatic history. The first presentation: “Mary Garden Gives a Press Conference.”
Cher Public