April 2011
“First witches, now ghosts. But while Broadway’s Wicked proved golden for Stephen Schwartz, his Séance on a Wet Afternoon came up lifeless and damp Tuesday night at its City Opera premiere.” [New York Post] (Photo: Carol Rosegg)
It’s official: Peter Gelb says the Met is going to Japan! [Wall Street Journal]
You really didn’t think your doyenne would let a top-secret dress rehearsal at the Met slip away without getting an exclusive on-the-scene report for you, the cher public? Now, did you? Well, if you did, you’re wrong, because La Cieca’s mole (pictured) has filed the following report:
Our Own JJ (not pictured) gets the Staatsoper Stuttgart experience off his chest, to the tune of about 4,000 words, in his new blog post at Musical America. Included is a massive and (one hopes) final deconstruction of the Calixto Bieito Parsifal.
The word traditional, when used to describe opera productions can imply a certain setting, costuming, stage action, or even overall dramatic conception (or lack thereof). Tradition at its best can provide a straightforward backdrop for the genius of a work to unfold, and at its worst weigh an opera down with outdated and vapid conventions.…
Which regisseur might as well have chosen to put his stagehands in traditional Noh costumes, since (what with the mammoth technical problems associated with this production) it has become obvious that, come opening night, the scene-shifters are going to be almost as visible as the singers?
Die Zauberflöte is a perennial favorite with audiences, and modern productions have attracted top singers and production teams. Yet every production struggles with the performance text, particularly with the issues of race and sex. The dreams of the Enlightenment may be lovely, but the social mores of their dreamers have not aged gracefully. Despite a…
“In New York… opera directors don’t matter so much. In Europe, it’s another story: There, the director’s curtain call provokes the wildest excitement of the night.” The long-awaited “Regie” piece by Our Own JJ appears in the New York Post.
An exciting album of photos from Stefan Herheim‘s new production of Salome that opened tonight at the Salzburg Easter Festival. (All images by Monika & Karl Forster).
La Cieca has just learned that Bryn Terfel will sing the role of Scarpia for this evening’s performance of Tosca,replacing James Morris, who is ill and withdrew early this afternoon. Terfel, who is of course in the city rehearsing the Met’s new production of Die Walküre, was in the audience for this afternoon’s performance of Wozzeck, where…
Only a few scant guesses at the most recent Regie quiz, and, alas, no one got even close, though perhaps that’s because some of our strongest players disqualified themselves, having seeing this production of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, as directed for the English National Opera by Benedict Andrews. Our next puzzler will be perhaps…
Where better to be on a lovely spring afternoon that chatting about Wozzeck? Well, admittedly the subject matter doesn’t quite scream “April,” but the superb musical values of the Met’s current revival are worth yet another hearing. For the 1:00 pm chat, details may be found after the jump.
Since a number of parterre’s better reviewers have recently left the fold (for the happiest of reasons, to be sure!) La Cieca is looking for a new crop of writers to critique the latest DVD and CD releases. If you’d like to audition for a spot, drop an email to your doyenne including a shipping…
Last minute chat tonight during Le Comte Ory, starting in about five minutes!
Now, don’t get La Cieca wrong, she’s very team Tyne Daly, and it’s not like your doyenne hasn’t been known to hit the airbrush herself from time to time. But who could think it was a good idea to present La Divina, even post-retouch, as a finalist on RuPaul’s Drag Race? [New York Times]
The iconic American soprano was born April 14, 1958.
La Scala will announce its 2011-2012 season perhaps as early as tomorrow, but in the meantime La Cieca has discovered that the Milan season will open with a gala new production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Robert Carsen. The delectable cast is scheduled to include Anna Netrebko (Donna Anna), Elina…
“You’re so resourceful, darling! I ought to go to you for plots.” “You ought to go to someone.” La Cieca knows that when plots are in question, she need go no farther than the cher public, which is why she’s reminding you (late in the game, admittedly) of the annual Omniscient Mussel #Operaplot Competition. No,…
“In an April 9 story about tenor Juan Diego Florez helping deliver his baby minutes before singing in the Metropolitan Opera production of Le Comte Ory, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the soprano starring in the broadcast was Renee Fleming. The singer was Diana Damrau. Fleming was the host.” [AP]
“The world premiere of a new opera production directed by directed by controversial Britrish playwright Mark Ravenhill (who wrote Shopping and F**king) proved too much for one front row audience member who collapsed as one of the actors slashed his wrists last night.” [Broadway World]
La Cieca usually leaves the barihunks to, well, Barihunks, but thanks to a tip from a very loyal parterriano indeed, meet Edwin Crossley-Mercer, a lyric baritone who really does seem to have it all. (Is it fair, La Cieca asks, that besides everything else, he looks like a young(er) Anderson Cooper?)
“What prevents Company from being the greatest musical ever written (which, given the talents going into it, it certainly could have been) is that there is something central to the work that is false, a cheat.” Our Own JJ (not pictured) reveals his theater queen side in Capital New York.
AGMA has warned the agents representing Lauren Flanigan and other singers appearing in New York City Opera’s Séance on a Wet Afternoon that a work stoppage on April 30 was a virtual certainty absent the successful resolution of a new collective bargaining agreement.
La Cieca asks the cher public (pictured) if commenting is working properly for them on parterre.com since this weekend’s server migration. Anyone having problems posting comments is asked to email La Cieca directly at [email protected].
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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