Belle Miriam “Bubbles” Silverman was born in Brooklyn on May 25, 1929. Read more »
The delightful German soprano, who enjoyed a 40 year stage career, died yesterday in Switzerland. She was 83. Read more »
The U.S. Supreme Court will let stand a Colorado law that bans actors and actresses from smoking while performing their roles on stage. The Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act applies to all theatrical performances, including that smokiest of all operas, Carmen. [allvoices.com]
Someone or something in Cincinnati doesn’t want Die Meistersinger to happen. Today, three more cancellations were announced, including Thomas Allen (Beckmesser) and Evgeny Nikitin (Pogner). [Cincinnati.com]
Finally, finally La Cieca devised a Regie quiz that really put the cher public on their mettle, and in fact, the only one of you even to narrow in on the right answer was 79CXR, whose wild guesses included a direct hit. The opera was Handel’s Hercules, as directed for the Luzerner Theater by Dominique Mentha. Now that your mental muscles are nicely warmed up, try to figure this one out.
In a tidbit sure to warm the cockles of Our Own Vicar of John Wakefield, beloved artist Dame Josephine Barstow will return to the ‘boards’ of the Gran Teatre de Liceu in April 2011. The legendary septuagenarian singing actress will be heard in the pivotal rôle of “Mummy Lucy” in Richard Jones‘s inscenation of Rustic Chivalry.
The Wizard of Bayrueth was born in Leipzig on May 22, 1813. La Cieca invites the cher public to celebrate Wagner’s mastery of the music drama with selections from his Werk.
When attending a production by one of the myriad small, independent opera Companies in New York, it’s always a bit of a crapshoot. When I go to one of these things, I try and play by an old Irish saying: “If you’re expecting a kick in the balls, a slap in the face is a victory.” Unfortunately, my time at the New York Metro Vocal Arts Ensemble production of food themed operas, titled À La Carte, fell lower than my lowest expectations.
Cher Public