parterre box

59 comments

• Alto says:

  “And if they still hate what we’re doing, I’m going to be trying my hardest to continue to do what I am doing, because I believe it’s the only way to go.”

  Only a remarkably unenlightened person thinks there’s only one way to produce art, either in the case of a specific work or an overall vision. It’s not only utter nonsense, it’s dangerous nonsense.

  on November 12, 2009 at 1:14 PM
• Clita del Toro says:

  I remember the first Met telecast. Here it is.

  Metropolitan Opera House
  November 8, 1954 Telecast
  Opening Night {70}

  Rudolf Bing, General Manager

  GALA OPENING

  Pagliacci: Prologue
  Leonard Warren

  Conductor……………Alberto Erede

  La Bohème: Act I

  Mimì………………..Victoria de los Angeles
  Rodolfo……………..Richard Tucker
  Marcello…………….Frank Guarrera
  Schaunard……………Clifford Harvuot
  Colline……………..Norman Scott
  Benoit………………Lawrence Davidson

  Conductor……………Alberto Erede

  Director…………….Joseph L. Mankiewicz
  Designer…………….Rolf Gérard
  Staged by……………Dino Yannopoulos

  Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Act II

  Figaro………………Robert Merrill
  Rosina………………Roberta Peters
  Count Almaviva……….Cesare Valletti
  Dr. Bartolo………….Fernando Corena
  Don Basilio………….Jerome Hines
  Berta……………….Jean Madeira
  Sergeant…………….Alessio De Paolis
  Ambrogio…………….Rudolf Mayreder

  Conductor……………Alberto Erede

  Director…………….Cyril Ritchard
  Designer…………….Eugene Berman
  Stage Director……….Robert Herman [First appearance]

  Aida: Act I, Scene 1; Act II

  Aida………………..Zinka Milanov
  Radamès……………..Mario Del Monaco
  Amneris……………..Blanche Thebom
  Amonasro…………….Leonard Warren
  Ramfis………………Jerome Hines
  King………………..Luben Vichey
  Messenger……………Paul Franke
  Dance……………….Mia Slavenska [First appearance]
  Dance……………….Larry Boyette [First appearance]
  Dance……………….Louis Kosman [First appearance]

  Conductor……………Fausto Cleva

  Director…………….Margaret Webster
  Stage Director……….Dino Yannopoulos
  Designer…………….Rolf Gérard
  Choreographer………..Zachary Solov

  TV Director………….Kirk Browning

  [This performance was relayed by closed-circuit to theaters throughout the United States.]

  on November 12, 2009 at 2:05 PM
• mrmyster says:

  #10 Kashina, the first Met telecast to go outside New York City
  was opening night Der Rosenkavalier 1949; it went to various
  movie houses all over the country, though not many. It was
  more or less a flop — really bad black and white image,
  and I think its failure played a role in discouraging such for
  another twenty to thierty years. Now, however, with Met
  Cenemacasts that are state-of-the-art in electronic
  transmission of image and sound, it’s a very interesting
  story. It is to Gelb’s very great credit that he brought this
  about, we cannot deny him that. Now….if he and the Met
  just had a young, vigorous, idea-filled Artistic Director,
  we just might be in clover.

  on November 12, 2009 at 2:06 PM
• Sanford says:

  Well if we’re going to get technical, the first production telecast from the stage was:
  Metropolitan Opera House
  November 29, 1948 Telecast
  Opening Night {64}
  Edward Johnson, General Manager
  OTELLO {94}
  Giuseppe Verdi–Arrigo Boito
  Otello………………Ramon Vinay
  Desdemona……………Licia Albanese
  Iago………………..Leonard Warren
  Emilia………………Martha Lipton
  Cassio………………John Garris
  Lodovico…………….Nicola Moscona
  Montàno……………..Clifford Harvuot
  Roderigo…………….Thomas Hayward
  Herald………………Philip Kinsman
  Conductor……………Fritz Busch
  Director…………….Herbert Graf
  Set designer…………Donald Oenslager
  Otello received twelve performances this season.
  [This was the first telecast from the stage of the opera house.]

  on November 12, 2009 at 2:10 PM
  • kashania says:

    Wow, a telecast as early as 1948? That’s remarkable. And what a great cast.

    on November 12, 2009 at 3:40 PM
• aloki miyeyi says:

  4.2
  Repeating the same unfounded assertions again and again does not really change the facts: the Bondy Tosca was liked many more Met patrons than disliked it; Zimmerman’s Lucia was well received by audiences and critics; Sonnambula was dismissed by the critics, hated by a minority of the audience, and liked well enough by the majority. And all three sold out most of their performances.

  on November 12, 2009 at 2:10 PM
  • iltenoredigrazia says:

    And your source of data to back up these assertions is..?

    on November 12, 2009 at 2:45 PM
  • quoth the maven says:

    even if these “facts” are true, does that mean that we aren’t allowed to make other assessments of these productions?

    on November 12, 2009 at 3:27 PM
    • Arianna a Nasso says:

      Weren’t these productions sold out prior to the opening night and the new productions had been unveiled?

      on November 12, 2009 at 5:24 PM
• Baltsamic Vinaigrette says:

  Looks like Constantine has opened the floodgates here, too! Yes, we now have Met screenings in venues throughout Ireland, they’re a complete sell-out and it’s all happened in the past three years – which is not to say that it was not in the planning before then.

  BTW Constantine, love that “Gelp”, it might catch on.

  Now, out the door to catch the farewell appearance of Frederica Von Stade, a great friend of this country (her mother used to live here). Will miss the House chat tonight but I am looking forward to your posts.

  on November 12, 2009 at 2:20 PM
• Clita del Toro says:

  I guess I was wrong about the Gala in 1954 being the “first” telecast–it was the only one that I remember.

  on November 12, 2009 at 2:28 PM
• mrmyster says:

  But Clita, you are not the son of
  E. Makropoulos the way I am
  You can’t be expected to remember
  these pre-historic events. And
  where did that 1948 ‘cast go?
  There were visuals from the Met
  as far back as the 1930s, but no
  real telecasts as full programs and
  none to national theatres until
  the 1949 effort, I believe.

  on November 12, 2009 at 3:05 PM
• aloki miyeyi says:

  The ticket sales statistics are from the Met website. The audience response assertions are from feedback to the Met via email and telephone as discussed in the media, and from my observations of and conversations with other attendees; I am a chatty sort, and I generally attend more than one performance of a given opera, prompted sometimes by a desire to see the same singers again, sometimes by a cast change. As for “other assessments” each is entitled to an opinion, but no-one is entitled to their own facts. To say that a production was a failure because you didn’t like it proves nothing; “duds” and “shitty” are not sufficiently analytical to support these “assertions.”

  on November 12, 2009 at 4:25 PM
• Constantine A. Papas says:

  BTW, I saw the telecast of Laboheme with Pavarotti and Scotto. But all these events of the past were sporadic and did not have the numbers of the venues-1000- and massiveness- millions of audiences in total- of the HD telecasts. I got tickets to see the opening night of La Scala, live, in a small town of New Mexico. That would have been impossible BG (before Gelp). From now on, opera’s history will be devided in BG and AG. The floodgate is closed.

  on November 12, 2009 at 4:39 PM
  • No Expert says:

    Constantine, I admire your enthusiasm

    on November 12, 2009 at 4:54 PM
    • CruzSF says:

      No Expert, I left my impression of last night’s Aida under the “Breakfast” thread. I hope you liked the telecast and am interested to read your thoughts on it.

      on November 12, 2009 at 5:36 PM