father figure
La Cieca’s spy, just returned from the Metropolitan Opera Guild luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria honoring Franco Zeffirelli, reports:
Lynn Redgrave did the voiceover for a video retrospective of Zeffirelli’s life, beginning with his origins as a “love child” (news to me).
But the highlight was Angela Gheorghiu. After performing two Romanian folk tunes nobody knew or really cared about, she did a very moving “O mio babbino caro,” literally singing it into his ear. Zeffirelli did a little comic bit of wiping his eyes and blowing his nose before embracing her. Nifty!
Zeffirelli and Gheorghiu are pictured above at Saturday night’s gala Bohème at the Met. Note also Paul Plishka (Alcindoro) and unidentified scruffy super.
Baryton Francais, here is a description of Patrick Stewart’s Macbeth. It was originally at Brooklyn Academy of Music, but this is the same production that’s now on Broadway.
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/theater/reviews/15macb.html?scp=7&sq=patrick+stewart&st=nyt
And here is a direct report on Patrick’s Macbeth from one who knows…
I was at school with Patrick’s daughter Sophie and our parents were friends. He even directed me in some youth theatre plays before he went off to do Star Trek.
His Macbeth is staggeringly disappointing. The production is interesting (although some of the more conservative posters here would loathe it) and Kate Fleetwood is a fascinating Lady M, but in general the men are not good. They’ve all been made much older, like a sort of Soviet Politburo, to match Patrick’s age, and it unbalances the play. Patrick himself gives an oddly uncommitted performance, lacking charisma and even credibility at times. He’s also been having severe vocal trouble- the night I saw him in London I presumed he was unwell but according to a pal of mine who is in the cast (and is also Patrick’s cover) he has a recurring problem whereby the centre of the voice just disappears.
He’s given some of the greatest Shakespeare performances I’ve seen- but as Enobarbus, Kent, Iago. A wonderful character actor, but not a leading man.