The fact: the rainbow bridge worked tonight in Rheingold at the Met, and the effect was “spectacular.” (All right, that last part was an opinion. But, moving on.)
The rumor: “everyone” at the Met knew “well in advance” that the rainbow bridge would not be attempted at Monday night’s opening performance.
Is it really true—the rumor La Cieca just now invented out of whole cloth—that René Pape will play Boris Godunov as an eccentric Chanel couturier? Cher public, you’ll have the chance to find out even before opening night of the Met’s new production of the Mussorgsky epic, since the company is making available making 2,000 free tickets to the October 8 dress rehearsal. Tickets to the quasi-preview, which begins at 11:00 a.m., will be available through an online ticket drawing only. Entries may be made on October 5 through the Met’s website www.metopera.org. Your doyenne is sure her spies know what to do.
“Returning from last season, mezzo Kate Lindsey was again excellent as Hoffmann’s devoted but cynical muse, Necklace.” [Canadian Press]
Roberto Alagna dips his toe into the avant-garde, participating in Calixto Bieito‘s controversial production of Carmen at Teatro del Liceo de Barcelona. [El País]
“You see, I don’t play roles. I find color for every role inside of me.” The soprano Marina Poplavskaya likes to talk about how she sees music as colors. She is also given to morbidly poetic formulations like “Let the harmony penetrate you like a silent knife through your heart.” [New York Observer]
“Fricka, queen of the gods, modeled one of Mamie Eisenhower’s old cocktail dresses; trickster god Loge rocked a Gary Glitter jumpsuit, and the thieving dwarf Alberich sported MC Hammer pants.” Our Own JJ breaks it down. [New York Post]
Great expectations awaited the Met Opera’s new production of Das Rheingold, staged by the ambitious Canadian director Robert Lepage, and rightly so. With a 45-ton set carrying a $16 million price tag, a world-renowned cast, and maestro James Levine celebrating his 40th anniversary on the podium, who wouldn’t be on the edge of his seat as the lights dimmed and the chandeliers rose?
Crossing the Plaza and seeing two thousand chairs gleaming in the gloaming with rain slick and thoughts of the evening that might have been for many. Past the ticket takers and the buzz of voices, the gawkers lined up on the stairs to see the celebs, I wend my way through and up and up. “We are back!” in my head, with a touch, yes a touch of glisten in the eye.
Cher Public