parterre box

132 comments

• Maria Malcontent says:

  Thanks so much. I do hope LaC will open up the chatroom at intermission. I would like to invite that lovely Mrs. Bachmann, and her hunky husband, Kyle, to join us. I am sure they would have a lot to say. Oh, sorry, was thinking of Billy Budd.

  on August 20, 2011 at 10:21 AM
  • bobsnsane says:

    What?

    Oh….right…..
    this is that lurid liberal
    ‘New’
    civility
    for the 21st century…
    going straight for the balls…
    or the jugular – given the economy in MI
    I understand your political desperation
    but why here?
    and not even funny (read – witty)-
    again, just below the belt (tee-he)
    & poisonous.
    Let it go….here…
    Ma’am

    on August 21, 2011 at 9:05 AM
    • luvtennis says:

      How dare any sane person defend Michelle Bachmann? What do you take us for? Fools. Civility does not require that good people accommodate irrational behavior of the deranged. Unless you count that locked room in the attic which we may need to air out. Very soon.

      on August 22, 2011 at 12:15 PM
      • Clita del Toro says:

        I can’t think of the right words to describe that horrible person, Bachmann and her big, queeny husband. But, anyone here who want to convert to heterosexuality can go to his funny farm (which receives federal money, btw) and he’ll show you how to do it! he will teach you to pray the gay away! YUCH! I advise Bachmann admirers to take the first plane to his loony bins.

        on August 22, 2011 at 12:30 PM
• angeladorable says:

  You know its Villazon. His recent trip to Japan gave him good Brownie points with Gelb anf now maybe I’ll get to see him. Wonderful.

  on August 20, 2011 at 11:15 AM
• kashania says:

  In an attempt to make the term “charismatic” less ellusive in my own head, I thought back to La Cieca’s Quantification of the Diva and the following definition of Grandezza. I think charisma covers a larger spectrum than just grandeur but still, this seems appropriate.

  “Be not afraid of grandezza: some are born grand, some achieve grandezza and some have grandezza thrust upon them.” Grandezza reveals itself in singing in breadth of phrasing, generosity of voice and “repose,” the sense that the audience is perfectly willing to wait patiently as the diva wends her way through the aria. A diva can achieve grandezza even without uttering a note, in a leisurely staircase entrance, a statuesque pose, or the increasingly rare ability to manipulate a three-foot velvet train with the insouciant ease of a tigress flicking her tail.

  on August 20, 2011 at 1:03 PM
  • phoenix says:

    ‘less ellusive in [your] own head’ but not mine… What could be more elusive to have mark time ‘wait[ing] patiently as the diva wends her way through the aria.’ That, to me, implies fighting off boredom, something I have never had to do when under the spell of charisma.

    But I do believe in never to be forgotten charisma begotten from a diva who achived ‘grandezza without uttering a note’. I think I experienced that when I was with some of them, but of course they weren’t onstage, so that doesn’t count.

    on August 20, 2011 at 1:22 PM
• zinka says:

  Rolando has not been away SIX seasons…….It must be Kurt Baum…

  on August 20, 2011 at 1:52 PM
• louannd says:

  so…….I guess Beczala is a no go (unless of course it’s TRUE that Mrs. V. will get her way despite the money and exposure Mr. V. would get).

  on August 20, 2011 at 2:26 PM
  • Tim says:

    Louannd.

    Thanks for this. If in fact the Met is giving RV an opening night when the could have Piotr the need their heads examined. Could it be that Piotr along with Joseph Calleja are too nice and don’t engage in a lot of PR foolishness? For that matter how could the Met consider an all star L’Elisir (as was rumored) and not go for Joseph? Maybe Leo Durocher was right about “nice guys” alas! But thanks again. It was really beautiful.

    Tim

    on August 24, 2011 at 4:57 PM
• Lotte Glottus says:

  Could it be Stephen Costello, last heard in the 2007-2008 season?

  on August 20, 2011 at 6:49 PM
  • Lotte Glottus says:

    Who I guess doesn’t count since he is doing Percy next season.

    on August 20, 2011 at 6:50 PM
• Camille says:

  From the redoubtable OED. Its definition of “charism” (note: no separate entry for the word ‘charisma’, alone).

  “[charism]…is a gift or favour, specifically vouchsafed by God; a grace, a talent.

  the adjective charismatic is of or pertaining to a charism”.

  Then follows several examples, for those interested, see OED. The above definition taken from the 1971 edition.

  on August 21, 2011 at 5:25 PM
• chaka says:

  What about Cura? When was the last time he was at the MET?

  on August 22, 2011 at 1:36 PM
  • Camille says:

    Just mentioned him recently, so I will speak up; he sang Stifellio the season before last–or god help–was it just LAST season. Fabulous Fabiano pretty much outsang him in a minor comporimario part.

    Jose is a junk of burnin’ love, jowever.

    on August 22, 2011 at 2:58 PM
• Clita del Toro says:

  Camille: lol re:Lizzie’s Wiener Blut. Love your remark that it was”scarier than Elektra.”
  That’s why I love Frau Betty Blackhead. I was once at a concert where she sang a Mozart song or aria. I swear, it sounded like Hugo Wolf or Schönberg. LOL The aria was totally lost in her “interpretation”: a different color for each syllable!

  on August 22, 2011 at 3:45 PM
  • Camille says:

    Well, Clita, I do say this with great fear and trepidation as I brought up to fear and
    R-r-r-e-s-p-e-c-t the Lady!

    We will not see her like again very soon, most likely. I always loved her Schubert songs which, as a girl, lifted me up into a ‘besser Welt’.

    Respectfully yours,
    C.

    on August 22, 2011 at 4:11 PM
• Clita del Toro says:

  Monty;; LOL You are too much!

  on August 22, 2011 at 5:04 PM