sexy bis
La Cieca’s spy at least night’s performance of La Fille du Régiment assures her that, yes, indeed, Juan Diego Florèz did take a “bis” of his first act cabaletta. “Tonight the ovation was far longer and louder than before (perhaps for fear of getting short-shrift as the old folks on Saturday did), and the encore was again followed by a big noise, standing,” the eyewitness at the Met reports. The “bisometer” score therefore stands at 2 encores per perfomances or .667.
Well.
Susan – LOL!! I’d pay a lot to see a bra get thrown onto the MET stage.
I’m not sure the orchestra were prepared to carry Florez into the audience, but it was clearly shown at the HD moviecast that they were indeed applauding wildly for him at the curtain calls. I have seen SO MANY times that the orchestra members are packed up and GONE within seconds of the final curtain (what, do they need their cigarettes?) In a contrast, they were really going wild to applaud the singers last Saturday. Maybe the cameras cut off before the bras started to fly?
I think you are mistaken. The flying bras happen in the OTHER opera, “Flederhooten”
evenhanded–Not to burst your bubble, but I think the orch. players are required to stay through calls during the first two performances of a run. After that, they’re free to leave when the curtain falls, which is what I bet they’ll be doing during the rest of the “Fille”s.
maven — but does that requirement of staying through calls stipulate that they must applaud wildly? That looked pretty genuine to me — please don’t burst my bubble.
Well.
Mave – Anna beat me to the punch, but I dare say there is a big difference between “staying” and applauding wildly, which is what they were doing. It is amazing that there are so many “bubble bursters” around here. Can’t we all just be happy with a great performance? Can’t we all just get along? Sheesh (lol).
Well.
Oh, and note to Jussilives: The ovation after Dessi’s Casta Diva on Monday (which was quite impressive, BTW) was N O T H I N G compared to the ovations Florez has been receiving. No need to denigrate either, but the respective urgencies for “bises” are hardly to be compared.
yes–the “applauding wildly” is no doubt in response to the performance. But the not being “GONE within seconds” is just part of the protocol, if I’m not mistaken.
On the subject of the now internationally-discussed Flórez bisness:
I happened to run into the ever-charming Yves Abel at the ABDUCTION last night (he’s doing a benefit with Damrau tonight), and I have kidded him about stirring all this stuff up. He was in the pit at La Scala, after all, and could be considered a proximate cause of this whole trend, which is so true to the idiom of bel canto.
As I wrote to him today (in agreement, as it happens, with iltenoredigrazia above):
“Gratifying the public by repeating a wildly-received cabaletta would have seemed obvious to Donizetti, no?”
Bra thowing is strickly forbidden except for when Dame Kiri is performing. Then is is permissible to throw bras, or any other undergarment onto the stage.
I wonder if Kiri’s nemesis, Hayley Westenra, ever threw her bra at the Dame. Speaking of Hayley, I was going to use her in my next contest, but decided to pick a different aria.