manhattan melodrama?
The atmosphere around Gotham may become rather more bizarre sometime in the next couple of years when Rufus Wainwright brings his opera Prima Donna into New York.
It’s only a rumor for now, of course, but that’s something, isn’t it? La Cieca bases her eager soupçonmongering on an interview the scruffy Scriabin gave to Montréal-based alt-weekly Hour, in which he mentions New York and Paris as places where there is “interest.” Whatever that means, it’s good enough for gossip work.
The interview also notes that during rehearsals for the recent Uraufführung, recovering Rufus shunned party-crazed Manchester for the less tempting envirions of Yorkshire, where apparently the gay sex and meth scene is pretty much nonexistent. This tidbit suggests to La Cieca that when Rufus arrives in NYC for the local Prima Donna premiere, he will sublet a nice place in Park Slope.
As you all surely know by now, Wainwright attended the gala opening night of Prima Donna garbed as Giuseppe Verdi, in the company of “Giacomo Puccini,” who was actually his boyfriend — Rufus’s boyfriend, La Cieca means, not Verdi’s — German theater director Jörn Weisbrodt. (“Tell me, girl, do you ever Jörn?” ” “I Jörn my living.”)
Anyway, La Cieca thinks it would be a superbly flamboyant gesture of support for all of the parterre box contingent to show up for the New York premiere of PD not in our usual mufti but rather in the guise of favorite opera composers.
La Cieca herself naturally will go as Amy Beach, and she suggests the cher public use the comments section of this item to coordinate their opening night drag.
Grimgerde2 …(coomment14#)was that what they call ‘real Yorkshire pudding’? It couldn’t be those empty little pastry roll things, I have seen sometimes.
‘
And I’ll go costumed as LOST HIGHWAY Komponist Olga Neuwirth:
http://www.beckmesser.info/komponisten/neuwirth/images/olga.jpg
Hmm. The cartoon Joker sounds like Fredric March…
OK, I’ll come as Leoncavallo and settle that score about Boheme with “Puccini” while “Verdi” listens to his new opera in a trance.
Cieca, If you go as Amy Beach, I’m going as Dame Ethel Smyth.
No. 6, when you say:
“There is no interest from the practically non-existent NYCO …”
I have to wonder about the source of your information.
>Dame Ethel Smyth
“Dyke, ya know…”
Count on me to appear as Libby Larsen.
C’mon, let us dispense with this totally non-operatic personality … and move on to some other topic. If Liza Minelli wanted to write an opera, would we care? …. oops …I guess we would!!!!
27 Here’s a new topic. If anyone harbors any doubts that the TIMES is in thrall to the Met/Gelb media machine — and at to the TIMES’ general cluelessness — they should be cleared up by yesterday’s puff piece by James Barron about bass Keith Miller, performing in the Parks mini-recitals series.
It begins: “Keith Miller is perhaps the only opera singer who can talk about “running an aria” the way a fullback talks about running for daylight.”
This despite the TIMES itself having run not one but *two* articles last year about a Harvard football player now pursuing a career as a bass. And,*excuse me*, but what about Gregg Baker and Morris Robinson, both of whom played some serious football? Baker was aiming at a pro career before being injured.
#28…Strikes me as a tad racist on the Times part…black bass plays football too! Well, golly.
29 *Ein bissel vielleicht*… but the white Harvard guy is white — Harvard of course being total catnip to TIMES editors.