Gaîté Parterrienne
Congratulations to the many, many of the cher public (pictured above) who really outgayed themselves (if such a thing is possible) with their vigorous and multiple entries in the “Tout gai!” video competition. The results of these perverse efforts can best be summed up in the phrase “gayer than eight guys fucking nine guys,” which also, coincidentally, describes La Cieca’s usual method of selecting a winner from among several front-runners. But she thought better of that, and she hopes that you, the cher public, can help her make her decision, post-jump.
Voting will continue through noon tomorrow (Tuesday) and the grand prize winner will be announced at that time. La Cieca encourages the cher public to campaign for their favorites!
I just know that I want to hang out* with the “Pluma Pluma Gay” boys.
*”Hang out” is Altoese for “hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Natalie Dessay…a singing dead.
An interesting performance from Mademoiselle Dessay. I don’t think one can fault the commitment or the spirit of it, but vocally the high stuff is just getting very hard and screechy.
I also hear, (same thing that someone said in a thread a while back about Dawn Upshaw) that she has been singing in big big houses and it is starting to be uniformly audible. She is pushing the hell out of it to make it big, especially the top, which should be the part of her voice that carries the easiest. But I guess she wants that big Sutherland type top voice, which she doesn’t have naturally.
Oh well. They come, they go, and eventually they all go. Some sooner, some later.
The singing here from Dessay is about 10 times better and healthier than her efforts (operative word!) in the recent ROH revival. On the flip side though, the sense of line in the slow section seems very vague – no forward momentum, which results in a really boring aria. And just to complete my momentary transformation in to absolute carping queendom, I really don’t like that short dress with the 70 denier tights.
But do you like the Van Cleef & Arpels necklace caught in the trim of her strap?
I wondered if it was Van Cleef. Not mad keen on it, no.
The high stuff may be a little hard, and a mite screechy, but at times is still spot on and the delivery is indeed spirited and committed. The audience is clearly having a grand time and we should remember what we hear on these audio/vid clips are FAR more unforgiving then in the house where the sound can be evened out/blended by the natural acoustics. Still, she sounds better singing this stuff than a number of other sopranos (including Sills) did at the same age.
Wait a minute…the assignment was to submit a gay video. My video included a same-sex kiss and full-frontal male nudity. It practically was eight guys fucking nine guys. And all this time I thought I was an expert on gaiety; I must be doing it wrong.
Although, now that you mention it, there is usually a swing involved…
E-News, Honey, the assignment was to submit a video of an Australian soprano singing an aria from an obscure 19th century light opera while swinging through the air surrounded by flowers. But don’t be disheartened; you’d be amazed how many seemingly intelligent people got it wrong.
Well why didn’t anyone say so??? I would have submitted my video of Yvonne Kenny singing an aria from La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein on a trapeze surrounded by peonies.
Damn ! A real contender !
I AM disheartened. I thought it was so-o-o apparent. Ah the angst of the too savvy…
Cruz: — AW ?
BTW, I want the guy in the back, even if he’s been surgically adjusted.
Anxiously Waiting.
Ah.
Adding my voice to the chorus of dissent: Dame Joan in a swing is the gayest thing ever.
Every revolt needs an anthem:
“Allons enfants de la Parterre,
Le jour de Gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous de la TYRANNIE
L’étendard sanglant est levé!”
Either that, or “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
Or “I’m Swinging in the Rain”
Or…?
The “Salve Regina” from Dialogues?
So when is our hostess going to replace that tired Pluma Gay video with La Stupenda in a sling…I’m sorry…so do we get to vote on Joan on a swing?
No voting for Joan in a swing, but here’s more where that came from.
From the boudoir of Blanche Devereux?
I’ve probably heard more renditions of Nilsson singing this one aria than any other soprano with any other aria (there must be a dozen youtube videos alone). And it still bears repeating how magnificent she was in this music.
OMG!!! I am loving this just for the dress train cascading down the stairs alone. Not to mention “kabuki” hand jestures by a Chinese princess. But again I ask why do we get Pluma Gay and not more choices like Birgit and Joanie? It’s like the producers of a Mitzi Gaynor special let loose on opera divas…LUV IT! Thanks Cara Cieca for posting that.
I gotta ask–am I the only one who sees suggestive shapes all over that set and costume?
Yes.
Lest I be hauled to the block along with the rabble that incited the recent so-called revolt, I hasten to prostrate myself before Her Blind Majesty. I submit to her Whim of Iron and kiss her Ruby Pradas.
No wait, that’s the Pope.
Quisling.
Only in meaningless externals, ma chérie. Mais dans la profondeur de mon coeur, je ne cesse pas de chanter, comme si j’étais Piaf…
…and what do you call a person whose “meaningless externals” differ from their innermost feelings?
A televangelist?
Ooh! I thought of a better one: Renée the concierge in Muriel Barbery’s L’élégance du hérisson! I’m still reeling.
Amazon just delivered “L’Elegance du Hérisson”. I am taking it to Orange in a couple of weeks’ time. Thanks for the tip.
Oh Manou! I borrowed the English version from the library and was so awed at its perfection, that I too ordered the French original from Amazon. It was delivered from your own beau pays. What a treat you are in for: humor, wicked intelligence, sadness, and an apotheosis that will hit you in both gut and mind. Please let me know what your reactions are if you can.