Ageless Reri Grist sings “Somewhere” in a rehearsal for the 19th Annual Gypsy of the Year Competition, celebrated earlier this month. La Grist introduced this song 50 seasons ago when West Side Story premiered on Broadway. She is joined in this clip by Chita Rivera, Carol Lawrence and other members of the original company.
A concert in Vienna, 2006.
While we’re waiting for the restoration of Stephen Costello‘s ringing rendition of “O Holy Night,” La Cieca thought you might like to hear another great American tenor’s take on the classic carol.
The saga of the peripatetic New York City Opera continues. According to a story in today’s New York Times (another Saturday newsdump! Well, at least someone has figured out how the media works here in the city!) Anyway, according to this NYT story, Gérard Mortier is kicking around a few ideas for keeping the NYCO brand from vanishing from the public consciousness during the company’s “hiatus” awaiting the reconstruction of the New York State Theater (and, not so incidentally, the official beginning of his regime in the fall of 2009). The company is looking at “probably” four productions in various [...]
UPDATE: The YouTube clip of Stephen Costello singing “O Holy Night” is no longer available. Given Stephen’s ubiquity on YouTube, though, surely it can’t be long before another performance of this song goes live, and La Cieca promises to link as soon as her veritable army of sources inform her. In the meantime, here’s another number. Right religion, even if it’s the “wrong” holiday.
“Starring Leona Mitchell (star of the Metropolitan Opera and other major opera houses around the world) and Sarah Rice (the original Johanna in SWEENEY TODD on Broadway), Leona & Sarah, Songs for the Heart & Soul. These two friends join their thrilling voices in an evening of songs, melodie, chanson and an aria or two, with a little gospel/inspirational thrown in for good measure, to uplift the heart and warm the winter-weary spirit. Come be transported and bask in the musical sunshine! “BCD concerts have been called ‘Life-affirming’, ‘show-stopping’, ‘Like Babette’s feast for the ear’ by reviewers and audience members [...]
Cher public, La Cieca meant to turn in early tonight, but she got one of those bees in her bonnet. This particular specimen of Apis mellifera is the “debacle” (as La Cieca has been astonished to see it termed) of Anna Netrebko‘s Juliette last Saturday afternoon. Such harsh criticism La Cieca has rarely heard since the infamous Renata Scotto Norma. Even La Cieca’s own bitchery about Renée Fleming never (well, rarely) reached such heights of dudgeon. La Cieca should remind herself that much of this accidie springs from opera-l, which most of the time is a valuable resource and all [...]
If, through some miracle of recombinant DNA manipulation, Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh and Maria Montez were to have a child together, La Cieca is certain this is how she (or he, for that matter) would turn out.
Cher Public