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think pink!

La Cieca is of course delighted to learn that dear John Waters intends to have Pink Flamingos adapted into an opera — though, sadly, he might as well forget about having the work premiered in his home town.

La Cieca can’t imagine which currently active composer might be up for the daunting task of setting to music the text “Now, Mama, that’s just egg paranoia. I think you’re being very silly. There will always be chickens. Why, there are so many chickens now that we can eat some and let some of them live in order to supply us with eggs. Chickens are plentiful, Mama. The world will never be without chickens. You can be sure of that.”  Read more »

ex-gay

Our Own JJ makes his farewell to Gay City News, — not “in a box — simple pine” à la Morgana Neri — but with a review of the Met’s current production of Il trovatore.

Meanwhile, still in place, and festive as ever, is that pearl among podcasts, The Entertainment Beat with Frances Gumm.

you’re an old smoothie

Plácido Domingo answers some of the usual questions and reveals when opera is boring in the current Newsweek.

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the sleep cure

La Cieca presents the second act of La sonnambula on Unnatural Acts of Opera. La sonnambula, Act 2 After the act, a taste of Renata Scotto‘s Norma.

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bad diva, good diva

Which diva predictably arrived late for rehearsal of her spot on the Met’s 125th Anniversary Gala? I’m sure the tardy singer did not laugh to see that another diva had already launched her comeback by sight-reading the aria from the prompter’s score!

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pape idle

According to a press release from the Met, “René Pape has withdrawn from the Met’s 125th Anniversary Gala on Sunday, March 15, due to illness.”   The cancellation starts a daisy chain of cast reshuffling, so listen carefully: John Tomlinson will sing the Death Scene from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, replacing Pape.  James Morris will sing Wotan in the final scene of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, replacing Pape. And John Relyea will sing “Le veau d’or” from Gounod’s Faust, replacing Morris.

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Blythe Stirit

[This caption by armerjacquino replaces La Cieca's original, "Waiter, there's some soup on my fly!"] Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

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[insert greek joke here]

Gay activists say they were attacked last weekend by members of the orchestra and the security staff of the Greek National Opera during a demonstration over a production of Rusalka.  Members of the orchestra had voted not to play the opera in protest against a scene in which two male characters were to kiss. The musicians handed out leaflets complaining that this kissing scene “tainted the central hero with homosexual tendencies.” [via Teacher Dude's Grill and BBQ]

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