parterre box

84 comments

• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  Fausto Cleva !!!!

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:03 AM
• Maury D'Annato says:

  How intriguing!

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:19 AM
• justanothertenor says:

  Well, as much as she hated the production, Natalie Dessay DID land in NY last Sunday to start rehearsing Sonnambula…

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:24 AM
• Marshie says:

  The vedette? We can always dream and may our dreams come true. How about this new name for Gelb’s Metropolitan?: Schadenfreudefestpielhaus.

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:24 AM
• schweigundtanze says:

  Is Domingo taking over for Kwiecien?

  And while we’re at it, can we get a replacement for the Butterfly broadcast. There has to be someone around who can sing it better than Gallardo-Domas. Oy. Why isn’t Netrebko being encouraged in that direction instead of wasting time slopping through bel canto stuff? Her strengths are her beauty of tone and her legato, certainly not her agility and diligence of study.

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:30 AM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  If the Russian wench had the nerve to walk out on Salzburg, why should the MET be less daunting?

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:36 AM
• kashania says:

  Was there ever this much drama during the Volpe years? I mean, we had to live off the Gherghiou/wig incident for months! The Gelb years provide daily drama. This is opera!

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:36 AM
• Cocky Kurwenal says:

  Kashania – I was idly wondering to myself last night why Gheorghiu doesn’t seem to sing Desdemona – she’d be gorgeous in that role. And then I realised it must be because she would have to be blond!

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:39 AM
• Cassandra says:

  This has been quite a precipitous fall from grace for the both of them in the past week.

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:43 AM
• La Cieca says:

  Cocky:

  a) Desdemona doesn’t have to be blond.
  b) Gheorghiu has worn a blond wig in several productions of Faust

  So far as I know Gheorghiu has only objected to one blond wig, and, having seen her both in and out of the wig, I can safely guess that her complaint was not the shade of the wig but rather its utter general hideousness and artificiality. That wig made one of the stage’s loveliest women look like a disused Seventh Avenue window mannequin. Even Joe Volpe said he hated the wig, but he made her wear it because, to his mind, obedience was the supreme quality he looked for in artists. Artistic integrity and simple visual good taste counted for nothing if they were not accompanied by the necessary subservient groveling.

  La Cieca will take this opportunity to congratulate once more the Volpe propaganda machine for the vigorous longevity of their Big Lies (e.g., the booing of the Wilson Lohengrin was an organized claque).

  on February 6, 2009 at 11:46 AM