Trapped in the closet
La Cieca is informed that tomorrow’s final dress rehearsal of Hamlet is as closed as closed can be: covers, Met staff and a few handpicked guests of Peter Gelb are the only humans to be allowed in the auditorium as the Thomas is teched. It’s natural enough, since — as we all know — the opening night Ophélie, Marlis Petersen, will not be present for this last runthrough, busy as she is singing Medea in Vienna gleichzeitzig. This veil of secrecy is like catnip to La Cieca, of course, so should you, cher pube, be one of the chosen few to get a glimpse of Simon Keenyside‘s Dane, please, please, drop your doyenne an email with all the details!
Do we have ANY idea who is singing the last two?
If it was going to be Leah Partridge, why would they not have announced immediately?
Is Partridge singing at the dress rehearsal? Will she be onstage or in the pit? For the last two April dates are they hoping that Dessay will have a recovery from whatever felled her in Paris during the run of “La Sonnambula”?
don’t know if this is special knowledge or not, but i was in the house yesterday and ms partridge was singing the rehearsal.
The Met is figuring TBA is a big box office seller.
well usually when it takes them this long they are working on someones contracts in other houses. Perhaps Damrau maybe and the other houses have to agree on letting her go or Annick Massis is another option. I doubt that Damrau would come for only two performances. I am hoping it might be Massis and I am holding on to my ticket for the 9th (which was to be Petersen) until I know who is singing. If it would be Partridge they could have announced her a long time ago since I doubt she is booked elsewhere. I also doubt Dessay is expected back since her Ophelie days are probably long over. She is planning on singing Madame Lidione in the next few years so more lyrical roles are much better suited to her at this late stage of her career.
Dessay singing Mme. Lidoine, rather than Blanche or Constance? I know that Mme. Lidoine seems to be the usual diva role in Dialogues des Carmelites, but it’s a spinto role.
I’m pretty sure she’s Blanche.
Bon mot de la semaine? LOL. I’m sure she’s ”Blanche”, in more ways than one.
I’d love to get a glimpse of Simon Keenlyside’s “Dane.”
He can show it to me any time he wishes!
maybe it was Blanche. I read it while paging through Opera and don’t have it hear. Blanche makes more sense.
I think she’s scheduled to do the old prioress.
I would love to see Dessay as Blanche. Chuck in Gens, Delunsch and Petibon and you’re getting somewhere. And Pollet as the Old Prioress, obv.
From Dessay’s website: “A l’automne 2010 elle abordera sa première Blanche de la Force des Dialogues des Carmélites à l’Opéra de Nice sous la direction de Michel Plasson.”
Apparently it’s going to be a very starry cast.
(peter, that’s wicked.)
Hmm. ‘automne’ as in September, or ‘automne’ as in November?
Because if it’s the former then I might start having a look at Ryanair…
In all seriousness, it will be Blanche. Opera Nice Fall of 2010.
A l’automne 2010 elle abordera sa première Blanche de la Force des Dialogues des Carmélites à l’Opéra de Nice sous la direction de Michel Plasson.
Opera Magazine says it´s going to be Blanche, with June Anderson as Mme Lidoine.
“Mais tu l’es, Blanche …”
I used that line just yesterday to a young student — who looked at my with puzzlement.
What do they learn in school these days?
Qu’est-que c’est passé avec la petite Jeanne?
Livret de Jean Cocteau
Musique de Francis Poulenc
Premiere- Opera de Paris, Decembre 1962
Jeanne: Rita Gorr
Blanche: Regine Crespin
Elvira: Jane Berbié
Edwin Flagg: Ernest Blanc
Teatro Alla Scala, Marzo 1964
Gianna: Giulietta Simionata
Bianca: Renata Scotto
Elvira: Anna di Stasio
Edwin Flagg: Aldo Protti
Covent Garden, June 1966
Jane: Helen Watts
Blanche: Joan Carlyle
Elvira: Elizabeth Bainbridge
Edwin Flagg: Peter Glossop
Metropolitan Opera, Sept 1968
Jane: Grace Bumbry
Blanche: Leontyne Price
Elvira: Thelma Votipka
Edwin Flagg: Frank Guarrera
AJ, I like the Baby Jane productions. But if I could just nitpick a little…..
Tippy had retired from the Met at this point. Her
logical replacement in the Baby Jane cast would be the next, and last, Queen of the Comprimarias
at the Met, the Hungarian Carlotta Ordassy who clocked in almost 800 performances at the Met between the late 50s and the late 70s.
And what about the German version, with Modl and Grummer? I think that’s the one I’d want to see….
Interesting that one would cast Jane as a mezzo. I always thought of Jane as a coloratura soprano/Heldensoubrette role myself–after all, she was a former child star…
rapt, even though we’re in the realms of the fictional, I can still say with utter certainty that the German production was ruined by Eberhard Waechter’s blustery performance.
This Baby Jane thread reminds me of EB’s Valley of the Dolls productions on the old, old, old, parterre.:
http://www.parterre.com/dolls.htm
“Veux-tu dire, tout ce temps nous aurions été amies?”
Why does June Anderson have such big, old, wrinkly hands and hairy arms?
Only the face is June. The rest is Bette
I can’t resist. About 20 years ago, a dear friend of mine happened upon a certain former Met mezzo at the Potrero Safeway. In all his excitement, he exclaimed: “Blanche Hudson!!!”
Signora, with all due respect (especially to your brilliance with Photoshop), I **think** that should be: “Veux-tu dire que tout ce temps nous aurions pu être amies?”
You are most likely correct, and La Cieca is not even going try to say that in French.
June Anderson as Madame Lidoine. That is a scary thought.
Fancy being scheduled “to do the old prioress”- the mind boggles- well his naughty old one does