undone deal?
Cher public, you may recall that it was La Cieca who was the first to break the story that Gérard Mortier was under consideration to be the next General Manager of the New York City Opera, not quite a week before confirmation appeared in the moribund print media. Since then the irreverent intendant has made a lot of headlines here and elsewhere.
Well, now you should be prepared for a shock, cher public, or at least for what may be the biggest story of the year. La Cieca hears a whisper that the Mortier/NYCO deal has gone sour, leaving the company rudderless beginning in 2009. Of course, your doyenne is probably wrong (she so often is!) but, on the chance that she’s not, well, remember you heard it here first!
UPDATE: A member of the cher public has forwarded La Cieca a thought-provoking clip from Daily Yomiuri Online. Sylvain Cambreling (Mortier’s “longtime collaborator,” per the New York TImes) has been named principal conductor of The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, effective April 1, 2010. The tipster notes “…Tokyo Opera City would be thrilled to get their hands on a star like Mortier if he were so inclined. And I bet they’re fully funded there…”
Just gotta say that Elizabeth Futral is one of my favorite singers. Her Semele at Santa Fe will always be a high point of my opera going, and I’ve loved her in DC, NYC, and NO, too. She and her voice are just beautiful to me.
Ladies, Ladies! Can’t we all just get along and LOVE EACH OTHER?!
Some of you are acting like sorority girls fighting over the last hot pink g string at a Frederick’s of Hollywood clearance sale.
Crack that whip Cieca!
re: futral.
I’m not sure if my ears will ever be the same after experiencing her lucia three years ago.
Futral sang the greatest performance of her career at NYCO РLakm̩ over a decade ago. She was wonderful Рlyrical, brilliant, silky and sensuous. Nothing that came after that quite measured up to the level of those Lakm̩s. Either vocally or dramatically she has done solid but not really distinguished work.
I loved the way Futral’s Nedda scared off Tonio with a whip last season in San Diego. She has the makings of a great dominatrix. For me, she was at her best vocally when she was an apprentice in Chicago.
I know nobody on the NYCO board can read French but I recommend they ask some kid to translate the French music magazine Classica. They have a long article this month on Mortier’s time in Paris and it is a record of ego, scandal and artistic failure. The only good news they found was that the new director will have a clean slate and low bar. Among the news to me was that Cambreling was paid the same as Gergiev and Salonen – the top fee – and the orchestra revolted at his “non-declared” music directorship and had to be brought off.
Nedda has used a whip on Tonio in virtually every production of this opera I have ever seen. Big deal.
Miss Futral was indeed at her best in LAKME, but I though t she also did very creditably in SEMELE.
Meanwhile, “Tony’s at his exercise!”
“Naturally, fans of the young Daniel Radcliffe will be enticed by the chance to see him, our adorable Harry Potter, in the buff.”
Is this about Equus? Nice physique, shame about the acting. I was standing behind two Australians in the half-price ticket booth who were having to decide between Mary Poppins and Equus ‘because it’s got that nice Harry Potter in it’. I was tempted to mutter ‘horses’ and ‘sex’ but I let them get on with it.
Re: RAGS
There is some wonderful music in the show. As a previous poster said, Judy Kuhn is amazing in the title song, which I vividly recall from the Tony Awards that year. The show ran extremely long out of town, and so by the time it came to B’Way, it had been cut somewhat, which may have played a role in its unsuccessful run. However, there is a stupendous cast album with the estimable Julia Migenes replacing Stratas.
The biggest problem I had with the score is that it tries to have it both ways. There are wonderful showtunes along side rather mediocre semi-operatic numbers, like Children Of The Wind.