Jane gang
You, the cher public have voted, and the results are in. Have we chosen the Met’s next Giovanna Seymour? The results were very close indeed!
The final tally, with 100% of precincts reporting, of the Jane Heir poll:
| Kate Aldrich | 300 |
| Anna Caterina Antonacci | 298 |
| Sonia Ganassi | 298 |
| Dolora Zajick | 295 |
| Other* | 92 |
| Kate Lindsey | 72 |
| Alice Coote | 71 |
* There were as well a large number of write-in nominees:
| Joyce DiDonato | 24 |
| Roxandra Donose | 5 |
| Sondra Radvanovsky | 5 |
| Vivica Genaux | 4 |
| Laura Vlasak Nolen | 4 |
| Isabel Leonard | 3 |
| Cecilia Bartoli | 2 |
| Olga Borodina | 2 |
| David Daniels | 2 |
| Renee Fleming | 2 |
| Denyce Graves | 2 |
| Vesselina Kasarova | 2 |
| Serena Malfi | 2 |
| “Me”/”Moi” | 2 |
| Susanne Mentzer | 2 |
| Ekaterina Semenchuk | 2 |
Votes were also recorded for Daniella Barcelona, Jamie Barton, Anna Bonitatibus, Susan Boyle, Livia Budai, Cher, La Cieca, Beth Clayton, Mignon Dunn, Juan Diego Florez, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germinotta, Lindsey Graham, Susan Graham, Marilyn Horne, Jane Irwin, Sophie Koch, Jennifer Larmore, Margaret Lattimore, Eva Lind, Victoria Livengood, Nemo, Eva Podles, Laura Polverelli, Anita Rachvelishvili, Leonie Rysanek, Anna Smirnova and Rise Stevens.
Oh, Laura Vlasak Nolen. That’s a good answer I didn’t think of. My full answer, FWIW, was not “Ewa Podles” but “Ewa Podles and Yes, She IS My Answer to Everything.” It was less than serious, however.
I’m SHOCKED!!!! Not one vote for Famous Quickly! (I’m sure she could sing it *tomorrow*…)
Susan Boyle FTW!
LMAO…
seriously though, does anyone have an idea as to when they might actually announce who will be singing the role?
I smell a runoff. Election, that is.
The presence of Cher and Gaga on the write-ins makes me sad that nobody voted for Beyoncé. BOLENA is basically a ripoff of DREAMGIRLS, after all.
I too thought of Famous Quickly, who, btw, received a lovely mention in last week’s NYTimes review of Mannes Opera’s Falstaff. (No, she did not sing the title role.)
The dashing young reviewer called FQ one of the great Quicklies of the 20th Century,indubitable, but also “one of the great Alice Fords of the 20th Century”– not a category I had ever contemplated, but I imagine the names Emma Eames, Ilva Ligabue, Pilar Lorengar and Frau Doktor Legge would appear rather higher on the list than our Own ROH favorite…
Renata Tebaldi and Gabriella Tucci, likewise, dear Nerva, but perhaps that bon bon has never heard of them (also Pia Tassinari and Franca Somigli and our own Raina the K not to mention the greatest Lucrezia Bori and Adrianna Maliponte, my cousin).
G. Tucci was just heaven in the one Zeff production that really was magical when new. I doubt the razor voiced, hemorrhoidal timbred Resnik, with an oozing blister’s personality could match any of the ladies we have named between us in any way.
What does it mean that votes for also counted for Jennifer Larmore? The last time I checked she had first place with over 1,000 scores. And who dared suggest La Cieca??? They should know she doesn’t play seconde donne!
If you look at the original thread, you’ll see that it looks highly likely that someone set up a bot to vote for Larmore- her votes suddenly jumped to over 1500, so la Cieca discounted her from the vote.
Really? Says something strange about an individual’s state of mind if they’re trying to skew the results of a pole on a gossip site about opera casting!
Very recent interview of sorts (in French) with Larmore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JSjNpMSK38
She trots out a lot of cliches but comes across as delightful and also in very good health vocally, while brandishing her Macbeth, Werther and Turn of the Screw scores.
Sorry, forgot the ‘v’. Here it is:
Cocky – never having met the lady personally – but I hear as a colleague particularly to younger singers she can be a bit “curt”. Let’s just leave it at that…
Marchisa, forgive me for being a bad correspondent, but I can tell stories about Madame Larmore. I won’t though, except that they are hilarious. And no, they don’t involve her being ‘nice’ (on the other hand in a very competitive business, where she got a big initial push then fell off, I understand her — edge, shall we say).
Signora Claggart, clarissima, I will always remain a fan of Larmore’s singing, but the stories I’ve heard too leave much to be desired, a pity cos she is a rather fantastic singer. And she remains THE immortal Cesare for me!