You have to hand it to Gérard Mortier: he manages to get press coverage in most unexpected places!
La Cieca has Sylvia Sass will play Maria Callas. Or, to be more specific, Sass will, after a long career built on imitating Callas, literally play the Greek diva when she acts in a French production of the Terrence McNally play Master Class.
Fracked-up femmes Patricia Racette, Susan Graham and Deborah Voigt strike a manly pose backstage at the Met before their appearance in the Placido Domingo anniversary shindig on Sunday. (Photo: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera)
Those of you cher public who ordered and enjoyed Decca’s bargain Wagner box
The set, Puccini: The Operas
Sopranos Deborah Voigt and Patricia Racette and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham made their drag king debut on Sunday night, and for once the gender confusion has nothing to do with Rufus Wainwright. The trio of songstresses donned tuxes for a spoof of the Three Tenors at a gala honoring Placido Domingo’s 40th anniversary at the Met. The ladies quickly stripped down to “shimmering gowns in which they delivered the aria ‘Nessun Dorma’ that was a signature piece for The Three Tenors.” Photo by Ken Howard, Metropolitan Opera. [via AP]
Who says media overexposure isn’t good for the career? Note, for example, how the heavily hyped bass-baritone Erwin Schrott has now made the transition into a dual career as lyric baritone and spinto soprano. And that poor schlub who used to update the blog for Martha Stewart now writes captions for the New York Times!
Sharpen those nails and slather on a fresh coat of “Jungle Red,” ladies, because La Cieca hears that “it’s on” between two of the biggest players in NYC’s opera criticism power gay elite. (Well, admittedly that’s not a large pool of talent, but what they lack in numbers they more than make up for in venom.)Â Anyway, the first bitch-slap of the season is delivered by Brian Kellow of Opera News, and foremost among the cheeks targeted are those of New York Times Jill-of-all-trades Anthony Tommasini.
Unfortunately, good old Opera hasn’t bothered to offer an online version of Kellow’s article or, indeed, any of their monthly load of codswallop, so La Cieca has taken the liberty of offering a scan of one of the more lurid passages:
La Cieca is still goggling at a press release she just received. Cher public, you can talk about this for a while.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York City Opera Commissions Philip Glass to Compose an Opera Based on the Life of Walt Disney
(New York, NY, September 29, 2008) Following a meeting of New York City Opera’s Board of Directors, Gerard Mortier, General Manager Designate today announced that City Opera is commissioning Philip Glass to compose a new opera, The Perfect American which imaginatively explores the life and career of Walt Disney. Based on the recent novel Der König von Amerika (translated into English as The Perfect American) by Peter Stephan Jungk, the opera, presented in collaboration with Improbable, is scheduled to open City Opera’s 2012-2013 season.
Cher Public