parterre box

Ah, dear Alberto Vilar — remember when he was going to swoop down from the skies and rescue the Metropolitan Opera and The Royal Opera at Covent Garden and, well, just opera, in general? And, more to the point, remember how he never tired of bragging about his munificence, and demanding lavish expressions of gratitude? Well, he’s in the news again. To be more specific, Vilar has turned up in the pages of the New York Post. The tab rag reports that the “former philanthopist” is complaining about how cruel and unusual it is to be confined to an 11,000 square foot duplex at United Nations Plaza, with time out only for visits to doctors and lawyers, church services, errands, and of course his daily 90 minute stroll. Vilar wants to spend more quality time with his his “significant other,” Maria Muñoz, or, as the Post so vividly puts it, to “play daddy to his gal pal’s son while she wages a battle against life-threatening cancer.”