parterre box

8 comments

• Erdgeist says:

  I’m glad I read through the ubiquitous first-name dropping and ridiculous pop-Freudianism for as long as I did, if only for the following sentence:

  We did have this one girl who used to come and masturbate over Cesare Siepi’s Don Giovanni, she would literally scream.

  That made it worth it.

  on July 23, 2010 at 4:36 PM
• jatm2063 says:

  OH MY GOD! Mr. McCourt’s last line, the quote from Miss Price, made me laugh harder than I have in months.

  When he was young, I’m sure that Siepi’s Don Giovanni could have made me cream (oh I mean scream) too.

  on July 23, 2010 at 7:53 PM
• rapt says:

  Though I’m veering off the Mawrdew topic, I’m very grateful to have had the chance to read this interview because I’ve longed for years to hear or read ANYthing about de los Angeles’s improbable Scala debut as Ariadne. A dream fulfilled at last! Glad for the other VDLA anecdotes, too. Thanks, LC!

  on July 23, 2010 at 8:52 PM
• Will says:

  For decades, I have hoped, wished, PRAYED that somehow or other the de los Angeles Ariadne had been taped from the audience or by La Scala itself. Like the Callas Brunnhilde and Isolde, apparently it is lost forever.

  on July 23, 2010 at 11:31 PM
• The Vicar of John Wakefield says:

  She was hardly the equal of Janice Watson in the role.

  on July 23, 2010 at 11:54 PM
• Camille says:

  I’m certain that V. De los A. was hardly her equal at all. More like her superior.

  on July 24, 2010 at 12:17 AM
• perfidia says:

  I love “Mawrdew,” but it seems this is a book you either love or hate. I think it is like a great painting you revisit and every time you do you find new details to enjoy. McCourt’s book is about that feverish time when a certain type of gay culture was at its zenith. AIDS, assimilation, and the natural changing of the guard have really done a number on that world where style was substance because it defined an identity that was still very much in contention with the culture at large. But that’s just the way I see it.

  on July 26, 2010 at 4:03 PM
• einekleinesopran says:

  What a brain — what an era! Alas! God, those anecdotes are priceless – no pun intended… I wonder what in particular Ned Rorem hated so…. I don’t think it’s true we NEVER get into Czgowchwz’s head at all– e.g. her mental preparations for Isolde/rumination over the Liebestod, and her feelings upon first hearing Beltane… In fact, considering how many many characters there are, perhaps her inner life is actually represented proportionally — though maybe not as much as one would expect in light of the fact that she is the title character…? Although I guess the omniscient narrator chooses to go to the fan viewpoint at so many crucial moments – performances, amnesiac progress, etc… Can’t wait to read the sequel – the “real” story ! – awaiting its delivery from Amazon, of course…

  on July 27, 2010 at 9:22 AM