parterre box

27 comments

• BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK says:

  That Hutton clip is a desecration and displays vividly how far Twentieth Century Fox had slipped. Her “day” at the top of the first “all day through” is fully half a tone flat. Her diction for a native English speaker is abominable; is she singing “talking about him”? It comes out more like “tawknbaudm.” certainly they knew this number was going to be filmed in advance so there was plenty of time to get Kathryn Grayson to do it, or maybe even Deanna Durbin in a pinch. This kind of bad taste led directly to Bella Darvi and “The Racers.”

  on March 18, 2010 at 11:11 PM
• atalaya says:

  Quick comment about the crowd tonight at The Nose. A very young crowd with more people in their 20s and 30s than I can ever recall seeing at the Met. Hipster/art school types – not the college/prep crowd that shows up for Carmen. Much more downtown/Williamsburg dress than one usually sees at Lincoln Center.

  Visuals for the The Nose were great. Exciting and contemporary I thought – particularly progressive for the Met. I can’t stand the music though – Shostakovich really, really irritates me. I’d like to see Kentridge come back though.

  I left at the start of the huge applause, saw an elderly couple walking down the stairs, and asked them what they thought. I thought they’d be easy targets for commiseration. But no, apparently I was the only musically old-fashioned philistine in the house tonight. They loved it!

  on March 18, 2010 at 11:11 PM
• Nerva Nelli says:

  How many of those hip art school types were papered in, do we imagine?

  on March 19, 2010 at 12:04 AM
• Henry Holland says:

  I can’t stand the music though – Shostakovich really, really irritates me

  “Well, Shostakovich plays with clichés most of the time, I find. It’s like olive oil, when you have a second and even third pressing, and I think of Shostakovich as the second, or even third, pressing of Mahler”

  Pierre Boulez, 2000

  I got through about 20 minutes of The Nose on my portable cassette player on a flight from Newark to Los Angeles years ago and I couldn’t take any more, it was like fingernails on the chalkboard, all that bone-dry counterpoint and shrieking woodwinds, ewww.

  Nice to read of a younger crowd at the Met, but, of course, the real test is will they ever come back, especially for the Top 20 stuff. Cynical me thinks: no.

  on March 19, 2010 at 12:04 AM
• BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK says:

  Hi Henry,

  Cyncial me says “yes.” Having gotten their feet wet and finding out where the Met is located, maybe half of them will be back for the new Ring. A third, with only some overlap, will be back for the William Christie extravaganza, which on paper will bear a close resemblance to a rock concert but which will also appeal to the Ancient Music faddists among them. (I predict that show will be the hot ticket of the season.) Ten to fifteen per cent will find they really enjoy it and will decide to sample some Verdi or some Puccini, at which point they will encounter Madame Guleghina and will never be seen again.

  on March 19, 2010 at 12:16 AM
• Camille says:

  It wasn’t that young a crowd.
  I was seated in front of the MET for approximately a half hour tonight awaiting my companion, and I saw plenty of oldsters, too.

  Also saw Lois Kirschenbaum in front of the New York State, oops, David Koch Theatre and plenty of ancients entering therein.

  on March 19, 2010 at 12:28 AM
• Zerbinetta says:

  I was at L’Étoile. Fun show, but so many empty seats! It made me worry for City Opera’s future.

  on March 19, 2010 at 12:50 AM
• m. croche says:

  ““Well, Shostakovich plays with clichés most of the time, I find. It’s like olive oil, when you have a second and even third pressing, and I think of Shostakovich as the second, or even third, pressing of Mahler”

  Pierre Boulez, 2000

  Mozart and Haydn play with cliches all the time. In fact, it was the very urge to avoid cliche at all cost that led Boulez down his particular compositional path. It cannot be said that Boulez’s music didn’t pay a price for his originality.

  on March 19, 2010 at 1:23 AM
• LittleMasterMiles says:

  BETSY@11: You’re having us on, surely? Quibbling over diction and musical propriety for a comic character in an over-the-top number? You might as well criticize Nilsson’s wayward pitch and rhythm in the final scene from Salome.

  Nerva @13: Papering the house for The Nose? Umm… hasn’t it been sold out for some time?

  Henry@14: I wouldn’t want to hear (much less pass judgement on) any opera heard on a cassette in an aeroplane. And as for “Top 20″ operas, if the Met does fewer Carmens and Bohemes to make room in the schedule for interesting fare like The Nose, I figure we all win.

  m.croche@17: I don’t think Boulez’s music paid a price for originality at all; it’s completely uncompromising and uncompromised. It’s not easy listening, but he sold out Carnegie a few years back for Répons (OK, so they removed most of the parterre seats, but they added some on the stage) and it was a fabulous evening.

  on March 19, 2010 at 7:57 AM
• Pelleas says:

  Good god, Betty Hutton makes me stabby.

  on March 19, 2010 at 8:46 AM