Nei cieli bigi…
Time for the blindest item of all: which world-famed and much-recorded tenor has just been signed to make what is sure to be a controversial Met debut?
Cher Public
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Maybe it will be Sampson with only the last act? They don’t need to pay for a Delilah since Sampson won’t need to be seduced. A cost-saving measure in these stressed times.
The idea is to sell tickets and Bocelli will likely sell out at least a few performances, no matter what the opera may be. And some prople will be thrilled to see him. That’s the reality of life.
Does it add to the prestige of the Met? Of course not, but neither did Kitty Carlysle, Lyvia Budai, Nedda Casei, and many, many others. The Met may be non-profit, but it is still very much a business. Gelb was hired for his business acumen and not his artistic values.
Awww, why pick on Kitty Carlisle? Her Met career, one season of Prince Orlovsky in the house and on tour, plus a couple of park performances of the same role some years later didn’t aspire to be a serious opera career. Aside from that, she was charming in the role and provided a bit of celebrity glitter. And she wasn’t shoved down the audiences’ throats as AN EVENT!!!!! the way the singer who is the subject of this thread may turn out to be.
She was a gracious and classy lady and did a fair amount to support the MEt. In her own way, I sort of think she actually did add a tiny bit in prestige to the Met. I remember seeing her in the audience not long before she passed away.
Certainly I would never mention her in the same sentence as the unfortunate Livia Budai who had one of the most unfortunate Met careers ever. Her singing as Azucena was pretty terrible but I actually felt a tiny bit sorry for her when the audience started laughing at her when she was captured and dragged into Di Luna’s camp. Booing I wouldn’t have thought inappropriate but laughter seemed to me to be the ultimate humiliation.
I wasn’t picking on Kitty Carlisle. Just said that not everyone who happens to sing at the Met brings along “prestige” in the way that some other singers do. The Old Met was often referred to as the house of Caruso and Ponselle, Rethberg and Pinza, etc. The new house will be associated with the likes of Pavarotti, Domingo, Milnes, Caballe, Nilsson, et al.
That aside, I’ll grant you that Kitty Carlisle was a gracious lady. However, I thought it was rather pretentious of hers to sit onstage next to Zinka Milanov, Rise Stevens, Eleanor Steber, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Bidu Sayao, et al at the Met’s Centennial Gala. A legendary opera singer she was not.
OK, I see your point. Kitty, Night at the Opera aside, wasn’t much of an opera singer. And certainly at the MEt she more talked than actually sang.
But looking at the list of honored guests at the Centennial Gala, also seated on the stage were
Helen Jepson, Martha Lipton, Margaret Roggero Delia Rigal and Gabor Corelli, none of whom were particularly distinguised even at the level of a Kitty Carlisle.
Not to beat the point to death, but I always had a bit of a soft spot for Kitty. I hate to admit it but I even named one of my cats Miss Kitty Carlisle. As the years went by, the growing sector of the population that had no idea who the real Mrs HArt was made the joke increasingly lame.
Like her namesake, Miss Kitty Carlisle lived to a rather advanced age, she made to to a very ripe 19. Her passing in april 2007 was a bit weird as the real Kitty C passed away within a week or so later. Strange.
Ah yes, the old pecking order; who gets to be in the club, and who doesn’t. Where would society be without it? Too bad we no longer have Mrs. Vanderbilt’s ballroom to aid in the certification. Margaret Roggero was a more dependable artist than — say — Teresa Stratas. Gabor Carelli did more performances than Franco Corelli. Respect must be given to ALL who with good will seek to make the performance a success, including those women who pick up the torn programs and pry the gum from the seats, conversing in languages never heard from the stage. Recognition and respect on a steady basis make union negotiations much easier.
Kitty Carlisle may not have been a top tier opera singer, but, back in the day, she was an opera singer that everyone in the country knew. I think people connected with her elegant, but good-natured persona. She probably helped a lot of budding fans find their way to those better singers.
iltenor… You certainly got that one wrong.
Here’s Wiki’s Bio link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Carlisle
Ms. Carlisle wasn’t being pretentious, she was almost slumming! She and Moss Hart were local residents of Bucks County and local celebrities as a result. She was known for her performance(s?) at Bucks County Playhouse around New Hope, even before and more prominently during her TV slot. As you can see by checking into the link, she was definitely a person who had no need to associate with any star(s,) opera or not, being one herself.
Betsy, as usual, has come up with the most remarkable and remarkably human touch. Thanks for the head-clearing thoughts, Bets.
There’s gold in them thar hills! Here, from February 2000, is an interesting link between Bocelli and Gelb Promotions:
By Kelly Barbieri:
“Andrea Bocelli is returning to the U.S. with a tour that has a projected gross of more than $30 million, according to promoter Jack Utsick. The tour, which will consist of spring and fall legs, is scheduled to visit at least 24 markets, with a possibility of adding more dates.
According to AB’s Boxscore, Bocelli’s 1999 U.S. jaunt sold out seven of the 10 reported shows with a gross of $13,231,146. Attendance for the 10 shows totaled 129,056 from a possible 130,186.
Creative Entertainment’s Frank R. Russo will produce the events, which will be presented by Gelb Promotions. American Express has been named official sponsor of the spring leg.”
http://www.allbusiness.com/services/amusement-recreation-services/4558163-1.html
That was then. But it’s likely that the Met would make more money producing him than just renting out the theater. Gotta keep those Chagalls in the house somehow.
Will someone please think of the Chagalls?!
Bocelli? Seriously? Hasn’t his star sort of dropped from the sky in the last few years? Are there people out there who still want to hear him?
Who’s next, Charlotte Church? (remember her?)
Now,lets not get too upset about all of this. You know the MET would never present him in a real opera. He can’t act-he would have to be led all over the stage–when he sings he starts huffing and puffing and sliding up to the notes. Maybe just a recital–they could make the MET stage into a ice rink and he could sing while the Olympic finalist skate like I saw him do a couple of years ago. That was nice. But oh please God,not Andre Chenier,please don’t do that to me.
Okay – I have just returned from Francesca Da Rimini and I have another role for Bocelli: Malatestino (brother of the more famous Mario)
Not forgetting Eboli, of course.
manou – that’s wicked. I think both Malatestino and Eboli demand more personality than Bocelli has to offer.
How did you enjoy ‘Francesca’. I thought the work had some fantastic moments — especially the more perfumed ones — though it doesn’t quite work overall. A less would-be realistic production might have been a good idea too. It needs great singers too for Francesca and Paolo. For me, the most exciting voice on the stage was Anna Leese — in fact, all the supporting gals were very good. Barker and Gavin did a solid job, but they both lack some vocal and personal charisma.
I liked Francesca. I had never heard it before but the reviews did prepare me for the Wagner/Debussy/Strauss mixture of influences, and it did indeed have thrilling moments (wonderful sexual tension in the bedroom scene). I also quite liked the production but I was always worried that the scenery was going to end up in the orchestra pit when it wad moved around. The Vicar (and Harry) would have been proud of the antipodean cast.
Anna Leese – lovely! I saw Gavin in the ENO Tosca, and he was better then, but I thought Cheryl Barker very good, if irritating – but that’s the role, really.
Too much blood!
manou: I have always loved Zandonai’s Francesa Di Rimini with all those dangerous harmonic ‘hair-pins’ throughout the score.
Either in the complete version with Raina Kabaivanska or just listening to the long Love Duet with Tebaldi & Corelli.
Plus that father in Montemezzi’s Le Amore de Tre Rei/.
Bit of a re-write needed there …
How did you enjoy ‘Francesca’? I thought the work had some fantastic moments — especially the more perfumed ones — though it doesn’t quite work overall. A less would-be realistic production might have been a good idea — and it needs great singers for Francesca and Paolo. For me, the most exciting voice on the stage was Anna Leese — in fact, all the supporting gals were very good. Barker and Gavin did a solid job, but they both lack some vocal and personal charisma.
Not sure why you needed the re-write? I also wanted to say that the Malatestino was at least 30 years too old for the part.
So, sadly, were the Francesca and Paolo, though! That’s opera for you …
It bothered me that Cheryl wore her black high heels in bed (shades of porn actresses), and it did get rather crowded in her little bedsit when all her friends were in.
Did you understand the Symbolist bit in Act 1 when all the women lay down ‘dead’, each with a flower clutched to her bosom?
They were bored to death by the jester.
Monty -- a propos being a tad too old for the part:
if you do not speak Italian, singing starts at 3.42 approximately.
What’s wrong with porn actresses? A couple of my best friends are porn actresses (and one of them’s a rather promising soprano in “real” life)…
Am I the only one that sees the irony in a blind item about a blind tenor on a blog called “La Cieca?” Perhaps he could be cast in La Gioconda as Il Cieco singing the mezzo part in loco.
… and he still wouldn’t sound as butch as Ewa Podles in the role.
If this is true..I will BOOOOOOOl assuming he will be miked…I also know that the plural of “Cieca” is “Cecche”…Therefore we will have La Cieca,Lois Kirschenbaum, and Bocelli doing the Rhinemaidens..
It is a DISGRACE to have Bocelli..unless he sings Lillas Pastia or L’Attavanti……I am so angry I am going to curse out my neighbors and slide down the incinerator….
Re-arrange the fucking furniture