parterre box

20 comments

• Hans Lick says:

  Bravo, Kvetch, for pointing out that Tony is an out gay man in a position of major notice on the Good Grey Lady’s pages, and a very few years ago this would not have been permissible.

  As for Tony’s lapses from taste and history, I’ve been reading the Times since Harold P. Schonberg, and every first seat music critic on the paper seems obliged to make a fool of himself in public, and to be treated with scorn for it. And you know, some of them were not bad, and none of them were always bad. (Theater critics too – if anything, they’ve been worse.)

  I’ve only reviewed for weeklies and for web sites, and believe me I treasure those extra days to get my reactions together. Harold P had to have it out that very night for the next morning’s issue, and Tony only gets a day’s grace. Who knows whether he has a sex life? Let him kvell, if he wants to.

  Besides, I’ve seen Luca Pisaroni once, as Leporello (a last-minute replacement, four days to rehearse), and the Don was slight but invincibly sexy Mariusz Kwiecien, and Luca P was HOT, physically and musically. Definitely charmed my ears and eyes, turned my head and affected my groin.

  As for applauding a production they booed the first time out – that’s kind of traditional too. Cf. Bayreuth.

  on April 23, 2008 at 9:27 AM
• La Cieca says:

  kvetch, hans et al: La Cieca is as overjoyed as anyone that an out gay man is reviewing for the Times. Her problem is that the “out gay” sensibility seems always to be expressed in fawning adjectives about the physical attractiveness of the young male members of the cast, mostly without any explicit reference to how a particularl hunk’s hunkiness relates to the character he is playing or the theme of the opera in general. It may well be relevant to the story of Figaro if the valet is a very good-looking man; for example, the Count may feel threatened by Figaro’s charm and sexiness and so will go after Susanna all the more intently as if in compensation.

  Now, this is not a necessary plot point, but it can be there at the director’s discretion if you happen to have a Figaro who looks like Pisaroni. However, Tommasini didn’t even suggest this point: he just liked the way Pisaroni looked, period, and wrote about it. That’s not criticism, that’s ogling, and it’s the sort of thing that can be fun on a very casual discussion site. I just don’t think that kind of hubba-hubba stuff (of whatever orientation) belongs in the New York Times.

  on April 23, 2008 at 10:02 AM
• Jack Jikes says:

  I saw this production in Salzburg – t’was brilliant.
  Ranks with the wondrous efforts of Strehler and Sellars.
  To this day I’m bewildered as to why it worked as well as
  it did – the concept was simultaneously bewildering and inevitable. The festival audience audience gave an ovation
  that lasted over fifteen minutes with a particularly loud salvo for Cambreling.
  Mortier has commented, ruefully, that Parisians
  are more conservative than the festival crowds he left behind.

  on April 23, 2008 at 12:12 PM
• kvetch says:

  La Cieca:

  Wile I (usually—lol) have the utmost admiration and respect for all you do, I must take exception to your criticism of TT’s “gushings”.

  Yeah…it’s mildly amusing , and predicable to know when Tony feels a stirring below the belt…but don’t most reviewers comment on the physical attributes of performers , to some degree?

  Anne Midgette never held her tongue when she thought a performer was physically “unsuited” for a role, in HER opinion.

  I sort of like knowing that Tony is “only human”, and has an eye—one I don’t always share, mind you–for MEN!

  Especially as I am of an age that can remember…under the creepy City desk dictatorship of Peter Gelb’s father (Arthur),when the “old gray lady” didn’t dare even hint at “the love that dare not speak its name”–unless it was to announce a round-up of “perverts”

  respectfully, always..
  kvetch

  respectfullu yours…..

  on April 23, 2008 at 12:16 PM
• mariod says:

  Jack Jikes:

  If Mortier is disappointed in how conservative Paris audiences are, wait until he gets a taste of City Opera audiences. The poor man has no idea what he’s in for, even with the NY Times cheerleading.

  on April 23, 2008 at 1:01 PM
• Berlinfan says:

  I heard Mortier give a talk at Harvard, in which he essentially said that he doesn’t care about the Met (he had very choice words for Gelb), and doesn’t really know anything about New York audiences, but will do what he likes until the board forces him out.

  Now I actually support Mortier 100% and can’t wait for his tenure. But, lamentably, I don’t think it will last long.

  on April 23, 2008 at 1:42 PM
• DirkVA says:

  “Anne Midgette never held her tongue when she thought a performer was physically “unsuited” for a role, in HER opinion.”

  But that’s an entirely separate matter from simply making an isolated statement about the physical charms of one’s favorite gender (and only that one) without regard to the role. That mannerism, endlessly reprised, does gay men no favors.

  on April 23, 2008 at 2:07 PM
• Jack Jikes says:

  Mariod: THEY predicted that the Salzburg crowd would tear Mortier apart, that they wouldn’t let him survive a single season. The Salzburgers did no such thing. To be sure some were pissed off but his tenure was considered a success.The post-Mortier administration longs for the excitement he achieved.
  Berlinfan: I enjoyed your comment. Imagine – no audience surveys! I want to inhabit Mortier’s world.

  on April 23, 2008 at 3:32 PM
• daintymouth says:

  I have heard Mortier speak a couple of times about CITY OPERA in the last few months and at both events he echoed what BERLINFAN said he said at Harvard. He is going to do what he wants and if the audiences don’t like it, he will be fired by the board and happily retire. Seemed very cavalier about the whole thing.

  This whole thing could be a very expensive proposition for Susan Baker and her board. A friend of mine who works at CITY OPERA tells me that EVERY project Mortier is planning is very expensive and that the scary thing is that even if things sell out (a very Big If), it’ll be hard to break even without LOTS of Fundraising…the one thing Mortier has NEVER had to do.

  on April 23, 2008 at 4:31 PM
• Regina delle fate says:

  I hear Mortier has already failed to find suitable venues for next season and is going to put on concert performances? Is this true?

  on April 24, 2008 at 8:29 PM