Here is style. Here is skill. Here is forethought.
That Issac Mizrahi production of A Little Night Music for Opera Theater of St. Louis just got even gay gay gay gay gayer with the announcement of legendary diva Siân Phillips in the role of Madame Armfeldt. Also appearing will be notable non-slouches Amy Irving as Desiree and Ron Raines as Fredrik. [OTSL]
Maybe they’ll even have an ORCHESTRA!
We can’t afford one on Broadway.
They certainly had one in the Paris production last week at the Chatelet.It was a superb production.
I’d heard a while back that Ron Raines had turned down this offer, which was why Louis Otey was slated for Frederik. But I’m pleased for OTSL’s subscribers about ALL these casting updates.
Wikipedia: “Siân provided spoken word backing to a track on Rufus Wainwright’s 2007 album Release the Stars, and appeared live with him at the Old Vic Theatre in London on 31 May/1 June 2007.”
Phillips has done this in London (to Judi Dench’s Desiree) and was quite fine. What a treat to have her here. Now — I notice a distinct lack of “Fucking Brit comment from Mme. la Doyenne.
Phillips as Mama was twice as glamorous and sexy as official UK national treasure Dench as her daughter. Nearly as silly as casting Dench as Titania, which she is currently playing in the UK.
Sorry MontyNostry but what didn’t you like about the Dench Titania? The production itself was a bit tired – Peter Hall may well have run out of things to say about the Dream – but Dench was quite fine. Just wondering what it was you felt was lacking?
I haven’t seen it, but I find the idea of a 70+ Titania somewhat absurd! And Dench as never been sexy.
Oh sorry I thought you had seen the production. I recall a Stratford Ontario production of the Dream with the same concept – Titania as Elizabeth I – the first season it was Jessica Tandy – hardly a sex symbol; the second season it was Maggie Smith – again a fascinating actress but hardly pin-up material. In both cases, as with Dench it worked within the concept put forth. Strangely I found after five or ten minutes the age thing didn’t matter with Dench any more than it had with Tandy.
I think the broad operatic definition of “Fucking Brit” only applies to people in opera administration, conductors, and musical and backstage staffers in American opera companies who occupy positions there, thus blocking Americans from having them.
It isn’t written anywhere that Titania is sexy. “Proud,” yes. “Queen of the Fairies” could cover anything from Miss America to Franklin Pangborn.
Hall’s idea is apparently Titania as Queen Elizabeth I.
Or Regina Delle Fate.
Betsy, this one made me laugh out loud.
I was ready to be shocked and appalled at the casting of Amy Irving [who is a lovely actress but WHAT credentials does she have for this type of role??] until I learned that she had supplied the singing voice of Jessica Rabbit.
The fact that Amy Irving can sing actually makes her overqualified for Desiree. Glynns Johns, remember, could barely sustain a pitch, and the role was concieved to be almost compleatly parlando.
Well, that’s perhaps a bit of an exaggeration. (And yes, I know all the stories about the rehearsals and previews.)
Johns could sustain a pitch, maybe two, and then she would need to breathe. So “Send in the Clowns” is written in very short spurts of phrases with lots of rests between, to play to her strengths. But it’s still proposed that she produce pitches, as opposed to parlando, and all the Desirees I’ve seen (Johns, Jean Simmons, Blair Brown, Michelle Pawk, Juliet Stevenson, two or three more) have done so. I find Johns quite musical (in intent) on the recording, in fact — even if she’s barely sustaining the phrases, she clearly knows how they’re shaped and where they’re headed.
Before her Madame Armfeldt days, Sian Phillips recorded Desiree’s music on the TER recording. Unfortunately that CD dates from before the label’s “every note, original orchestrations” days, and is just the usual excerpts with (sob…) a reduced orchestration.
Glynis Johns – another Fucking Brit!
“Glynns Johns, remember, could barely sustain a pitch”
But she was so moving and fabulous when she entered like a wounded swan into GOETTERDAEMMERUNG Act II.
OOPS! My bad. this belongs the page about Glimmerglass. Sorry.
so OFF TOPIC: but Opera Chic is translating a La Reppublica article saying that Muti WILL NOT BE BACK at the Met again, or so she insists. I know i’ve been bringing this up for the past few days, but I am just left dumb by the lack of reasoning behind this finality (if it is true).
http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/2010/02/the-american-riccardo-muti-muti-speaks-to-la-repubblica-about-attila-and-more.html
But actually, there is no finality here. Here is a direct quote from the La Reppublica website: “Per il Met questa per me forse sarà anche l’ ultima volta. Perché poi gli impegni di Chicago, Vienna e Roma non mi lasceranno più spazio”. To me, it means that what he says, is that he probably (forse) will have no time left for the Met in the predictable future, because he’ll be busy elsewhere, since he has other obligations. He doesn’t say that he will never return to the Met, he just thinks he will not have time for it. Here is the link: http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2010/02/25/il-muti-americano-ai-teatri-italiani-dico.html
My Italian is ok but not great but I agree there is no finality here. “Forse” is a key word here I think. You don’t say “maybe” or “perhaps” in any kind of a statement you expect to be taken as the final word on something.
To parapharase, “Perhaps this is also my last time at the Met” or maybe to be a little less literal “Perhaps this will be my ONLY appearance at the Met” ….followed by the description of the heavily booked schedule he has.
So much for OC’s authenticity…..
He also says «Premesso che io qui non devo ritornare, i miei apprezzamenti sono sinceri, senza piaggeria.” : “Given that I may not come back, my comments are sincere, without flattery”.
The tone of the interview is very complimentary to the Met, and very diplomatic about Regie (“non credo che abbiamo bisogno di nuovi geni per spiegarci la Traviata” – “I don’t think we need geniuses to explain Traviata to us”).
Thanks Liana for supplying the original article.
The Reppublica article is really worth perusing even if one’s Italian is non-existent or rusty ( as is mine)
Unless I read it too quickly, I don’t think Prada was mentioned in the discussion of the production-an interesting oversight( if I am correct)
But I hadn’t realized before that “oom-pah-pah” is “zum-pà-pà” in Italian – no wonder Muti’s performance had more zip to it! I wonder what it is in other languages?
It’s um-pa-pa in Polish
Well, that’s Chicago’s gain. I’m not terribly surprised by this news. To the great delight of CSO management, Muti has communicated that he plans to be very involved in Chicago, not just Orchestra Hall. This is a 180 from Barenboim, who pretty much headed to O’Hare the second he stepped off the podium.
Note: My fave Barenboim story: Informing the chorus not to look at him for cues because he wouldn’t be giving them.
Has the Met asked him back?
Note that, according to her translation, he says: “It’s impossible not to be impressed by the Met’s ability to program future seasons. They have a full calendar of productions already complete up to 2014. This method allows you to book in advance the best conductors, the best singers, and the best artists.”
What’s Muti supposed to say: I didn’t like the experience at the Met, so I’m not coming back? He’s too smart to say something like that, so he’s being diplomatic (or honest).
He made it this far in his career without the Met, I’m sure he’ll be just fine if he doesn’t come back. I don’t understand why some people feel he *needs* to perform at the Met, other than for their selfish desires as audience members.
How many times do you want this question answered, or do you just want to dump an Opera Chic link here?
Oh could you/ That would be wonderful. And a billiard table. And a bidet.
i will keep on asking it as long as i don’t get a satisfactory answer! g-d it!
Muti certainly hasn’t looked for opportunities to perform at the MET in the past, and probably won’t seek to do so in the future, but OC, and presumably some of the papers, are exaggerating his statements when they explicitly close doors he has not actually closed. It makes for a catchy story, and sloppy journalism, to speak in absolutes. He may well not appear at the MET again, but that would not make their statements correct.
No one will ever sing Send In The Clowns quite like the luminous Millicent Martin did in Side By Side By Sondheim (and speaking of Sondheim, do we REALLY need another Sondheim Songbook Review? Ever? And yet a new one is coming. What is this? Number 4?)
But my fave complete Desiree is Sally Ann Howe, who could most certainly sing more than one pitch. The entire NY Opera production was incredible, with Regina Resnik as Mdme Armfeldt and Danielle Ferland as the young girl (also incredible in Into The Woods)
“do we REALLY need another Sondheim Songbook Review? Ever? And yet a new one is coming. What is this? Number 4?”
It’s the man’s 80th Birthday. He’s the god of Musical Theater. What’s the problem?
I love Sondheim, but he does seem to relish any celebration of his oeuvre. Side By Side By Sondheim, Putting It Together (done twice in New York with Julie Andrews the first time and Carol Burnett the second), Sondheim On Sondheim, the numerous single performance benefits.. how about celebrating Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Comden and Green (now that would be an eclectic and highly entertaining evening, considering all of the varied composers they worked with). And back in 1987, I say Christine Andreas (stellar as always) in Stardust, a show devoted to songs with lyrics by Mitchell Parish, which was quite beautiful, and had costumes by Erte. Or a revival of Sophisticated Ladies or Ain’t Misbehavin’ (how about Jennifer Holiday?)
Barbara Cook has been singing the Sondheim songbook for years, I adore Vanessa Williams, And Tom Wopat always gets good reviews on Broadway, but still…
Don’t forget that the fabulous Kathie Lee Gifford was Carol Burnett’s alternate in “Putting It Together”. I actually went to see her – and she was very good. I am not kidding. She also substituted “fucking” for “god damn” in “Could I Leave You?” because profanity was okay but blaspheming God is not. As I would rather fuck than damn God, I was not offended and neither was Stevie Sondheim.
I am kind of with you Sanny on the Sondheim glut. Everything he has ever done is being revived. I really liked “Assassins” at Roundabout but many of these other revivals are like “why”? Especially the John Doyle stripped down stuff is suitable for Off-Broadway or regional or student productions. At Broadway prices I want the full band and Jonathan Tunick orchestrations.
I could not disagree more. The John Doyle productions of Sweeney and Company were two of the very best things I have ever seen on Broadway. The actors as instruments approach doesn’t work for everything, but I thought, in Company especially, it actually heightened the action. As for the orchestrations, while I did miss the power of Tunick’s full orchestra, I thought Sarah Travis did an exquisite job remaking the piece into a chamber nightmare.
I could sing Carl-Magnus *tomorrow* ; it’s a question of color and tessitura.
And the NY Opera production with Howes was the only time I’ve ever heard the actual E in alt taken in the liebeslieders’ overture – by Lisa Saffer….we’ve been lucky to have her here in Indy as Baby Doe, Lucia, and Adina – she’s always got a beautiful sound….and the liebeslieders in the NY Opera production are all great!
The high E was taken again in the revival at NYCO by Anna Christie (with Juliet Stevenson as Desiree); it was also in the Roundabout production with the late Natasha Richardson..and was in the recent Paris production with Leslie Caron.
I found Howes really dull- and clearly too old. Resnik is wonderful though, as you say. But the real reason to check out that NYCO production is the utterly matchless Charlotte of Maureen Moore.
“Resnik is wonderful though”
Indeed! Never bettered.(The Gingold woman was dreck.)
Totally agree. No one has done Charlotte better than Maureen Moore, although Randy Graff was also very good. It’s a shame this performance couldn’t be released on DVD. It’s still very much a classic.
Re: reduced Sondheim orchestrations, Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va. has downscaled their orchestra to four players for Sweeney Todd.
And re: the new Sondheim review if it’s as good as Putting It Together, it will more than justify itself. I’m catching it between Armida and Lulu, in May.
The Shaw Festival did a reduced NIGHT MUSIC summer before last, and it wasn’t very good. Their stuff is almost always top-notch.
More importantly, Muti hit the nail on the head when he summarized the situation with the current generation of producers / stage directors of opera:
“io non credo che abbiamo bisogno di nuovi geni per spiegarci la Traviata. Però c’ è una nuova generazione di registi interessanti che possono rispondere alle aspettative di un pubblico il cui senso estetico è stato rimodellato dal cinema, dal teatro. ” I suppose that was always the case, so I guess it’s all Hollywood’s fault.
completely off topic, but for those following the olympics, I just saw that Maria Guleghina, of all people, is scheduled to be part of the closing ceremonies this Sunday… It’s on her (new) website as well.
Bizarre as that may be, it’s nice to have the opera world represented in so major an event.
Canadian Ben Heppner sang at the Closing Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin/Turino, Italy. So it isn’t so odd for Russian Maria Guleghina to sing at the Closing Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Sochi, Russia, is hosting the next round of Winter Olympics in 2014, and each subsequent host city gets to do a brief showcase of their cultural contributions to the world.
Except that the ghoul isn’t really Russian except by press release. But how likely is it that an Olympics will take place in the Ukraine?
She’s not what you’d call a “cultural contribution” either.
Oops. My error about the nationality (although Ms. Guleghina was born under Soviet Union-control in Ukraine).
Perhaps Russia chose her to try and curry favor with its former Soviet neighbor.
The logical question here is, was Hvorostovsky too busy? Or failing that, Borodina? or Mikhail Kit? Seriously, a sloshed Vladimir Putin screaming his way through “Sempre Liberie” would sound better than Guleghina.
I’m relieved to see that she isn’t on next season’s Met roster.
Perfect for the olympics, and she won’t need any amplification!
ha ha! I wonder what (if anything) she will sing.
yes, I did notice that she is not on the roster at all. I wonder why.
Regardless of what one thinks of her, I still think it’s nice that they would select opera personalities for an event of such magnitude, where time is limited and they can only present so much. Russia has so many cultural contributions and to have two people from the opera world is heart warming.
On a tangential note I saw that she (Guleghina) just got married last month… Whatever happened to her husband Mark?
I did notice that she is not on the roster at all. I wonder why.
Because she can’t sing any more.
Well, she can still scream pretty effectively as long as you are not interested in pitch
La Cieca always does call a spade a spade! Which is why I love her.