parterre box

88 comments

• richard says:

  The more I look at that photo of Mula the more creeped out I am. It’s really sorta scary, isn’t it?????

  I wonder what effect they were trying for?

  on August 31, 2009 at 7:24 PM
• armerjacquino says:

  I think it’s an attempt at a kind of Kylie Minogue look. But they’ve unfortunately gone past ‘edgy’ and landed on ‘undead’.

  on September 1, 2009 at 10:42 AM
• No Expert says:

  I think she looks pretty good here, considering she’s really blue with tentacles.

  on September 1, 2009 at 11:48 AM
• Harry says:

  What’s the connection here? Vicar of John Wakefield rejoice! Kylie the aging pop song bird (comment 82#)& the usually grizzling farce ‘steroidal female’ Germaine Greer (comment79#) are both ‘Commonwealth exports’ . Both, transported one hopes, to England for the term of their natural life. Ah!, the revenge of former colonies……shipping cultural rubbish off shore, back to Mother England!

  on September 1, 2009 at 2:49 PM
• marshiemarkII says:

  79, Oh Gualtier, that was such a wonderful tribute from Ms Greer, and you who write so beautifully should write into her tribute’s page also:
  http://www.hildegardbehrens.com/hildegardbehrens-viewertribute.html

  Same with Alexythymia, 80, please share your thoughts on her. I wanted to agree with you on the Don Giovanni but I was too distraught to even write last week. Please tell me how can I get a hold of those CDs, I had it on cassette tape but must have worn it out, she was so sublime in the Vami ondeggiando il cor duet, and not to mention the glorious sextet (Tergi il ciglio…), as Sir Peter Hall told her in her dressing room “you were born to sing Donna Anna!” who cared about the staccatti in Non mi dir, I certainly didn’t!

  I remember those performances of the Ring in Vienna in spring 96, that was in fact when she was supposed to come for James Levine’s 25h Anniversary Gala at the Met right after Siegfried, sing Dich Teure Halle first in the program, and leave immediately for the airport to go back to sing Goetterdaemmerung the next day in Vienna. As it was, she got sick and had to cancel the Siegfried, and of course could not travel here. It sounded like she was already having trouble with doing the Ring in one week, perfectly understandable at 59 yo!!!!! but in 1998, two years later, she did again the Ring in Vienna, this time no illnesses, and the Friday in between Siegfried and Goetterdaemmerung SHE FLEW TO BERLIN AND SANG FIDELIO!!!!!!! and then came back and did an even more stunning Gotterdaemmerung, this time around. She was truly so amazing, there will never another one like her.

  on September 1, 2009 at 5:32 PM
• casualoperafan says:

  Speaking of Swenson, I understand that she will be singing the Beethoven 9th in West Palm Beach in the near future. Smart move to get into more concert work.

  on September 1, 2009 at 10:02 PM
• Alexythymia says:

  @ marshiemarkII, if you mean the ’84 Met Don, it’s at H of Opera, but you can give me a shout (suffisaunce AT gmail).

  on September 2, 2009 at 3:26 AM
• marshiemarkII says:

  87, thanks alexythymia! yes of course I meant the 84 Met Don, I think you had asked if she sang it anywhere else? no she did not, those four performances (thank god for that broadcast!) were the sum total. She felt she could not do justice to the role because of the staccatti in Non mi dir, and dropped the role. I thought the voice was ideal for everything else in the role, but she was also criticized a lot so that was it, what a pity! I saw all four performances at the Met and she was sublime, the end of Act I!!!!! and also the epilogue, and that sextet! And how she looked in that black dress, a perfect aristocrat!

  I’ll send you a private e-mail later today.

  on September 2, 2009 at 7:51 AM