Enter Madame
One of La Cieca's intricate network of spies has been keeping his ear to the ground in San Francisco where a supernumerary friend whispered to him that "there was concern amongst the SFO backstage ranks that since La Gheorghiu had yet to show up for any La rondine rehearsals, that she may go the route of of her recent Lyric Opera contretemps and be dismissed as a no-show."Signor Spy assured his super friend that Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna "were merely enjoying a personal idyll in NYC ... that once Mr. Alagna finished up with Pinkerton last Saturday, she (or both) would probably be winging to the West Coast to keep the SFO commitment." He then passed along to La Cieca a report on the soprano's "first rehearsal appearance."
UPDATE: Well, now it seems our original spy has reconsidered the hearsay he shared earlier and asked that the "Super" quotes be removed. Fair enough, La Cieca thinks, since she's not entirely clear on whether Super gave Spy carte blanche to share the "insights" in the first place.
La Cieca does not plan on making a habit of putting the toothpaste back in the tube, but this appears to be a special case. Okay with you, cher public?
Labels: diva, gheorghiu, la cieca ci guarda la cieca ci vede, san francisco
POSTED at
9:24 PM
23 Comments:
This is to be expected. I work as an usher at San Francisco, and I can say this, that La Rondine is the only opera this season not to have an open dress rehersal, at La Angela's request/demand.
If I were the complaining chorus member I would just go backstage and slap the shit out of her, even if they arrested me for assault it would be worth it...I don't know honey, she is just rude...she has proven time and again that she is an asshole and she needs to be horsewhipped...
Well well.
This anecdote doesn't really illuminate much, does it? Oh yes, that's right: some supernumeraries were "inconvenienced". Big deal. Ms. Gheorghiu may well be an idiot for all I know (never met her), but come on. Nobody gives a damn about a "complaining chorus member" - nevermind a simple supernumerary. Please let us get some perspective here.
Angela is known to be and act like a prick. She, apparently, learned nothing from the CLO lesson. I hope other opera company managers have the guts to put their foot down like Chicago. The time of warshiping and yielding to cantakerous prima donnas is over.
Don't forget that Angie George comes from the land of Vlad Drak and Mrs. Ceaucescu (and Mr.) so maybe it is a Cultural thing the way she acts. Too bsd she and Nellie Melba never got to meet one another. The fur would fly. And Emma Eames would probably have punched her out. Hate to think what Mr. Bindernagel or Gesualdo would have done.
It is a little difficult to feel much sympathy, or belief in this whiney -sounding "super"...he was miffed to start with , since there hadn't been much "bonding" going on btween the other dudes...awwww!, poor baby...
Yeah, Ms. G. might possibly be unprofessional, sometimes, ..but not much more then some back-stage" snitch", telling fluffed -up backstage rubbish
As a longtime San Francisco Opera supernumerary, I have to agree with everyone who's sniping at the whining super. "La Rondine" is about the Diva, dude, not your stupid super business. I have a neighbor covering one of the singing roles in the production, and she reported that Ms. Angela was quite gracious with the other singers last night, so take this entire account with many grains of salt.
just for the record ... it's LOC ... not CLO.
Maybe we should be careful in here about backstage stories. We went through that posting war a while back about who very famous was either gropin' or chugaluggin' in the dressingroom area. Also, in my previous comment I probably should not have inferred that Angie needed to actually be murdered. I apologize.
Dear all,
Miss Gheorghiu was not the singer who was singing offstage during post-rehearsal notes, one assumes, at the request of the conductor, who may not have known what was happening onstage.
Since Ms Gheorghiu has already appeared in the same production in London (twice) and Paris she should be familiar with the production already and not worry too much about blocking. How many supernumeries do you need in La Rondine? It's almost a chamber piece apart from the big ensemble in Act 2.
Doug:
"Judean Peoples Front! Huh! We're the People's Front of Judea." (TM)
Just for the record, she never turned up in Paris -Inva Mula who'd sung the role in Toulouse (co-producer) replaced her for some of the performances- but she does know the production well
I know she's a pain in the ass, I don't like her character and I find her vulgar. BUT, the first time I ever saw her was in La Rondine at ROH and, I tell you, she is born for this role. The beauty of her voice really lends itself to this kind of music. It is a beautiful piece and the production is stunning...
"The time of worshiping and yielding to cantakerous prima donnas is over"? Yes, thank goodness nobody kowtowed to that Greek woman who was so difficult. New York is none the poorer for not having heard her Macbeth.
I'm being facetious but seriously, a lot of singers (ok, performers in general) are monumentally self-involved, and while it's fun to indulge in some schadenfreude when they get busted for it, it's probably just part of the territory. You want a diva onstage, a lot of the time you're going to have to deal with one offstage.
Gheorghiu is fascinating in certain roles, and this is apparently one of them, but she also in certain ways has never turned into what everyone thought she would, most especially in terms of the weight of the voice. I imagine this might have as much to do with her dispensability as her temperament.
La Cieca has to say, as diva fits go, the behavior reported here is something of a fizzle. I mean, for Angela Gheorghiu, showing up only a week late for rehearsals is early. And, as le petit Yniold points out, she's done this production before so she hardly needs to rehearse it from scratch.
Perhaps La Cieca should have been tipped off by the bit about the offstage vocalizing. Of all the bad behavior you might pin on Gheorghiu, nobody accuses her of "singing too loud."
fuss over nothing. blah blah blah who cares. She is a bitch. that's a novelty. angela and reneee. this space is becoming boring. and irrelevant. I liked all the funny posts about the cowboy Regie. More of that please.
There's never an excuse for a lack of basic manners or common courtesy, no matter who you are.
However, I must side with the divas and divos up to a reasonable point. Those of us who have not faced the pressures of a singing career (let alone an internationally famous singing career) should think twice before throwing bricks, especially if the best you've got is the stuff described here. When I was in the chorus, I appreciated a nice diva, but I still knew my place and stayed the hell out of her way.
To add to Maury's point, there is no Miss Congeniality Prize at the Met Finals.
Besides, if you're mad that the diva didn't show for 3 weeks of rehearsals, blame the house that hired her. Any damn fool who has read one issue of Opera News would have known that La G wasn't going to show up for rehearsals or give a damn about the director's vision.
If she wanted to care about the director's vision, she would be doing Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Meretrice I d'Oscena
The only thing the anecdote illuminates is that Gheorghiu's voice is hard to speak over, which, as La Cieca stated, is a possible hint at the falseness of such a report. I personally hope that her voice IS hard to speak over.
Either way, this is some of the fun stuff to talk about on this site, and though the tweaking of opera titles can be funny, I don't see why it should become a main staple of this sometimes very enlightening forum, italianainbristol.
Yes Italianainbristol, get over yourself. Bitchiness its not a novelty - its an art- and we certainly aren't boring or irrelevant when we discuss it.
Whoever let you off the trains needs slapping.
Yes, indeed, in this intance, I whole-heartedly support putting the "toothpaste back into the tube". To shed further light on Cieca's footnote: the content of this original post (thankfully now largely removed due to her compassionate discretion), was from a private/personal email that neither the source, nor it's initial recipient ever intended or approved to be made public. In light of this, the source is innocent of any of the above charges.
The music of course counts most, of course, and AG is a major leaguer in that regard... However, her personality is a modern version of Wagner's - she's simply not a nice person - especially off stage - the manic smiles and pleasantries are reserved for PR only... I wrote all I could gentlemanly reveal already, on operachic. I can't tell you how disappointed I was to discover that a Diva is almost certain to be as nasty offstage as on... the trouble was, it took me a few years of "observation" to come to that realization. AG is a very modern psychological vampirette, in the truest sense... enticing whenever possible + taking _all_ she can, then dropping those who are deemed of no use.... However, there are always reasons.... she simply _believes_ that her behavior is necessary, to be a survivor, and to have her own way completely, in private and public, in every agenda, no matter the cost. An outstandingly selfish person, by anyone's standards....!!! BTW I grew up surrounded by celebrities, and only about 2-3% of those in showbiz weren't nasty people... not surprisingly, the percentage was reversed among celebrity atheletes (of 20+ years ago!!!!) Celebrity has a way of erasing humanity, doubtless...
I erased all my youtube clips of AG, and donated all my CDs of her, a few months ago...and I don't feel the slightest loss, just anger at myself, for much time during the few years of admiration, etc....that time could've been much better spent...
There's much more to say this nice voice and black heart than meets the eye, but why bother....? She's her own worst enemy! I only feel pity and amazement!!
Vissi d'arte my ass!
Years from now, a ghostwriter biographer may reveal how not widespread was AG's circle (for lack of a better word), and how far out of that orbit was RA. and how central were others who are the obvious choice. (This assumes that there'd be a non-vanity publisher!!!)
But for now, the PR spin serves some purpose I suppose.
But the principal bloggers such as yourself and operachic should know better.
I admit though, what's to be gained by gainsaying the PR...?
....let sleeping dogs, etc
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