parterre box

47 comments

• 41
  CruzSF says:

  October 28, 2009 at 1:11 AM

  Baritenor, I just looked again at the photo from the Youtube clip. I’m pretty sure that the wig was changed. At the very least, it received a touch up and a cut.
• 42
  rysanekfreak says:

  October 28, 2009 at 9:05 AM

  The Chicago Ernani was dreadful. Not only were all four voices in less than Golden Age condition, but the music was heavily cut: the cabalettas got chopped in half.

  And the two announcers were in the category of Margaret and Will: lots of goosey cheerleading for every aspect of the performance. We need those 2 old guys from Sesame Street to add a touch of realism to “commentating.”
• 43
  luvtennis says:

  October 28, 2009 at 9:46 AM

  Someone should post one of Price’s clip of Ernani from the early 80’s. I would but I just don’t know how.
• 44
  Buster says:

  October 28, 2009 at 9:52 AM

  Broken toes:

  She broke a … toe Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky sang the role of Elvira at the opening of Verdi’s “Ernani” at the Lyric Opera of Chicago Tuesday night, with her right leg in a cast and a broken toe on her left foot.

  The 40-year-old Berwyn native has suffered a litany of mishaps in the last month. On Oct. 3, she sprained her right ankle while fighting a would-be purse snatcher in San Francisco. On Oct. 4, she heard “a crack” in the same leg while running off stage during a matinee performance at the San Francisco Opera. A doctor determined she tore a ligament and must wear a cast until Dec. 4.

  And two days later, tenor Marco Berti fell to his knees during a scene and directly onto her left foot, breaking her big toe. Making matters worse, the “Ernani” stage is angled at a 5 percent grade.

  “The hardest thing for me singing on this stage has been trying to get both my balance for walking and for singing,” she wrote in an e-mail. “There has to be support in the body when a singer sings, and I have been fighting that since I hurt both of my feet.”

  Her only solace, other than an accommodating cast and crew, has been the heavy Spanish-Renaissance costumes. They provide padding, she explained, when she has to fall to the floor or drop to her knees.

  http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed-confidential-1028-oct28,0,575061.column
• 45
  The Vicar of John Wakefield says:

  October 28, 2009 at 10:15 AM

  Tosh! Kim Begley is the finest Herod since Emile Belcourt. It would have all gone better had they thought to import Helen Field for the name-part.
• 46
  Fritz says:

  October 28, 2009 at 10:44 AM

  Just in case anyone thinks the good Vicar is exaggerating, here’s a recent quote from a British music review site. The reviewer is recalling the first time he saw an opera (FAUST):
  “The cast was magnificent by any standards, featuring Harvey Allan as Mephisto, Roland Jones in the eponymous role and the redoubtable Amy Shuard as Marguerite.”
• 47
  Bianca Castafiore says:

  October 28, 2009 at 7:39 PM

  la cieca, carissima, where’s the link to the old temporary blog? there’s some posts i must catch up with … grazie.