Comments on: Trapped in the closet

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:59:54 +0000

Whoops, wrong thread previously:

Chère manou (#42), you are about to get re-usurped … Don’t you mean to say: ‘…**où** sont les neiges d’antan?’?

By: Regina delle fate

Regina delle fate — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:49:53 +0000

Presumably the score of the Asawa/Daniels/Mehta version would have to be rewritten by Peter Eötvös.

By: Regina delle fate

Regina delle fate — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:45:29 +0000

Haha @ Brian Asawa, David Daniels and Bejun Mehta!That’s SOOOOO wicked!

Armerj – the premiere of Carmelites in Nice is October – 12, I think. Sylvie Brunet will be Mme de Croissy- she’s an excellent singer, all but unknown outside France.

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:09:28 +0000

Jane – Brian Asawa
Blanche – David Daniels
Elvira – Bejun Mehta
Edwin – Donald Gramm
Thomas Schippers conducting (from the wall)

By: Nerva Nelli

Nerva Nelli — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:57:54 +0000

Jane: Roberta Peters
Blanche: Eva Marton
Elvira: Florence Quivar
Edwin Flagg: Peter Rose

By: kashania

kashania — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:40:00 +0000

rapt: In the future, I must remember that bit of silver-lining thinking, i.e. bringing a third umlaut to a cast. LOL

By: armerjacquino

armerjacquino — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:27:28 +0000

Ooh look, it’s like the old days. Well, to take these in order:

richard- it is indeed a homage to the Valley of the Dolls casts of old. But I’ve never read or seen VotD… this way, finally, after ten years or so, I get to play.

manou- suis desolé. That’s what I get for trying to do two things at once. I note I created a singer called ‘Simionata’ too.

rapt- what, you didn’t like Hilde Rossl-Majdan’s performance?

By: rapt

rapt — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:09:17 +0000

re the German Baby Jane: Sorry to hear about Waechter, but at least he brought a third umlaut to the cast (if not to my inability to include diacritical marks in my comments). Now, if only Hetty Plumacher had been persuaded to take on Elvira…

By: manou

manou — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:11:26 +0000

Okay – sorry…je n’ai pas encore repris la main.

By: manou

manou — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:10:19 +0000

Oh good – I can correct amerjacquino at 19 : “Qu’est ce qui s’est passé avec la petite Jeanne?

Phew…back in my pew…

By: manou

manou — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:09:36 +0000

Oh good – I can correct amerjacquino at 19 : “Qu’estce qui s’est passé avec la petite Jeanne?

Phew…back in my pew…

By: manou

manou — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:06:51 +0000

I am only absent from this blog for a tiny little time, and I am already usurped in my niche of French pédant… Mais ou sont les neiges d’antan!

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:05:43 +0000

O dear Lord – -

Reaction #1 “The more things change . . . ”

Reaction #2 Did we actually once have casting pools like those?

By: richard

richard — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:49:00 +0000

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

By: armerjacquino

armerjacquino — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:48:14 +0000

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.

By: La Cieca

La Cieca — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:37:09 +0000

You are most likely correct, and La Cieca is not even going try to say that in French.

By: bassopretendo

bassopretendo — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:34:12 +0000

don’t know if this is special knowledge or not, but i was in the house yesterday and ms partridge was singing the rehearsal.

By: rysanekfreak

rysanekfreak — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:26:42 +0000

Rysanek as Blanche. Nilsson as Jane.

By: Indiana Loiterer III

Indiana Loiterer III — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:55:05 +0000

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…

By: Ercole Farnese

Ercole Farnese — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:46:51 +0000

I would call Renata Scotto and Mirella Freni out of retirement for the roles of Jane and Blanche, respectively, and of course the opera would be titled “Che fine ha fatto Baby Jane?”

By: soubrettino

soubrettino — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:29:02 +0000

Bon mot de la semaine? LOL. I’m sure she’s ”Blanche”, in more ways than one.

By: MontyNostry

MontyNostry — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:37:05 +0000

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?”

By: richard

richard — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:10:56 +0000

Ghoul as Jane and Angie as Blanche

By: Baritenor

Baritenor — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:00:06 +0000

Gheorghiu and Netrebko?

By: SilvestriWoman

SilvestriWoman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:20:29 +0000

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!!!”

By: rapt

rapt — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:50:57 +0000

Lehmann and Jeritza?

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:44:35 +0000

Of course, some years ago it would have been interesting to see Tebaldi as Blanche and Callas as Jane.

By: iltenoredigrazia

iltenoredigrazia — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:43:20 +0000

If you’re going to mount Baby Jane as an opera the inevitable cast would be Verrett and Bumbry as the Blanche and Jane. They could alternate in the roles.

By: richard

richard — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:37:07 +0000

Only the face is June. The rest is Bette

By: rapt

rapt — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:33:02 +0000

And what about the German version, with Modl and Grummer? I think that’s the one I’d want to see….