La Cieca hears that the Met has just freed up about 60 storage containers in their production storage facility in New Jersey, disposing of 14 old productions including such venerable classics as the Robert O’Hearn Hansel and Gretel, the Beni Montresor Gioconda and the Franco Zeffirelli Falstaff. Read more »
Asking New Yorkers to travel two hours to the remote but beautiful campus of Bard College in New York’s Hudson River Valley to see an opera can be like asking them to cross the Sahara. Yet if there is any opera I would put my life at risk to see again, it just might be the production of Der Ferne Klang by Franz Schreker that premiered last night as part of Bard’s 21st annual SummerScape. This potentially once-in-a-lifetime production showcased the vast genius of Schreker, as well as the growing skill of director Thaddeus Strassberger, making for a night of complex yet visceral beauty. Read more »
This is a rather old story, but La Cieca heard it confirmed just recently. You all have heard, I trust, that this summer the Arena di Verona, for the first time in its nearly 100 year history of opera performances, is miking both singers and orchestra. Why? Because Franco Zeffirelli, director of all five of this year’s productions, demanded amplification: “Se non mettete i microfoni ai cantanti non lavoro in Arena!” [Corriere del Veneto]
You know how La Cieca gets when one of her darling Regie productions gets dissed sight unseen, as happened on these shores with last Sunday’s unveiling of the Hans Neuenfels Lohengrin at Bayreuth. (Not so much on this site, because La Cieca is happy to report that here at dear parterre.com all schools of opinion—even stupid ones—are given a full measure of respect.)
It looks like the Washington National Opera is going to be absorbed by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. [Wall Street Journal]
“Before the shoot, I Googled female rock singers like Courtney Love and Patti Smith, everyone I could think of, to check out their image. They all had bangs and this disheveled, unplanned look.” [Daily News]
So how about another angle on Mawrdew Czgowchwz? Since, at the end of the novel, the eponymous oltrano decides to take a brief hiatus from her métier of “musicry” to star in motion picture, how about we produce (in the boundless realm of imagination) a film based on the McCourt novel? Above, La Cieca’s nominee for the title role, Cate Blanchett. Your suggestions for further casting?
Cher Public