parterre box

20 comments

• phoenix says:

  phoenix (pictured, upper left corner), swims but doesn’t dance and wishes everyone Happy New Year

  on December 31, 2011 at 5:58 PM
• Camille says:

  Hey you guys — HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

  It may be our last, according to the Mayan calendar, so let’s live it up NOW!

  on December 31, 2011 at 6:58 PM
  • bobsnsane says:

    Not to worry – Camille that’s not accurate.

    The Tortuguero hieroglyphs were carelessly read in 1996.
    The Mayan’s were brilliant enough to understand the concept of infinity.
    The Mayan Long Count is a particular 5,000 year cycle that ends on our calendar date 12/12/2012 – so party on.

    However,
    the conclusion of this cycle DOES correlate with the descent of a Mayan underworld deity – and given the likely ‘ascension’ of a Republican president this November (as no president since Roosevelt has been re-elected with an unemployment rate of greater than 7.1%) – that may yet be enough of
    a doomsday scenario for some –
    though not for me,
    no – not at all.

    on January 1, 2012 at 9:40 AM
    • whatever says:

      i hesitate to begin the new year by both veering further off topic and posting a pugnacious comment, but by no objective read of the current political landscape can a republican presidential victory this november be characterized as “likely.”

      on January 1, 2012 at 1:29 PM
    • brooklynpunk says:

      It’s interesting…and very telling- that someone would dare to raise the “unemployment issue”. with such “relish”– when the poster’s own side has done absolutely NOTHING TO RELIEVE THE SITUATION– and , in FACT, his side’s forces of reaction and bigotry have blocked every single measure that the President has proposed to address the calamity we find ourselves in, right now.

      HAPPY NEW YEAR—I THINK IT’S GONNA BE A VERY HAPPY ONE FOR THE FORCES OF PROGRESSIVE-ISM

      on January 1, 2012 at 1:42 PM
      • whatever says:

        bp: i didn’t take bobsnsane’s prognostication to have been felicitously delivered by any measure … in fact, (like you) i think he’s being a tad *too* cynical!

        partisanship aside, there’s simply no basis for calling this election today.

        on January 1, 2012 at 1:46 PM
        • brooklynpunk says:

          whatever:

          OF COURSE it’s “felicitously delivered”—

          THAT SIDE wants nothing more then for things to get bleaker and bleaker ( due to their own inactivity)—so they can then “blame” it on a man they disdain and ridicule to a frenzied pitch….

          Meanwhile, they will make fun of The First Family’s vacation plans, as if THAT is the cause of al our miseries….

          on January 1, 2012 at 1:57 PM
• grimoaldo says:

  Hey Elijah or Betsy --
  You were asking in the chat about a duet from Handel’s “Floridante” with echo effects.
  Well there are two duets from Floridante and they are both quite heavenly although I am not sure if I would say that either of them exactly has echo effects.
  Anyway have a listen and tell me if either of them is what you had in mind:

  Ah mia cara:

  Fuor di periglio:

  Beautiful music wonderfully sung.
  It was this sort of purely musical magic I felt was largely missing from The Enchanted Island.

  on December 31, 2011 at 10:42 PM
  • Betsy_Ann_Bobolink says:

    Thanks for the prompt service, Grim. I rather suspect it was the “Ah, mia cara” that I heard, but somehow the antiphonal quality had been elongated until it became virtually surreal. And no, I am not a cannabis user, but that would certainly produce the same effect.

    on January 1, 2012 at 3:30 AM
• marshiemarkII says:

  It was a glorious night at the opera tonight. Everyone was really wonderful (no more small voices, it was my seat in the rehearsal , from the U row now, everyone sounded fabulous!!!!!) what a great night at the Met all around. More tomorrow.

  And a wonderful New Year to all of YOU my opera queen sistahs, for being you!!!!

  on January 1, 2012 at 2:33 AM
• Olivero is my Drug of Choice says:

  The review from the AP is in:

  http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19655578

  on January 1, 2012 at 8:01 AM
• bobsnsane says:

  Placido sang Neptune
  but his English sounded like
  Uranus.

  Best wishes to all for the New Year!

  on January 1, 2012 at 8:29 AM
• Cyrano says:

  I’m afraid I’ll be in the minority, but I just did not find last night enjoyable. There was absolutely no flow to the evening (start to stop, frenetic to glacial tempi). And while I thought there were some beautiful voices (obviously DiDonato, but also Oropesa and Claire and Costanzo), Daniels was a major disappointment to me (frequently off with the orchestra). The less said about Domingo probably the better, but I will say that while his voice is still big, I could also here the prompter screaming lines at him from the top row of family circle. De Niese seemed a bit over parted for her music. She would have great bits and then lose it the next phrase and then recover. Part of it was probably Christie’s doing/fault. I really much preferred Isabel Leonard’s Agitata a due venti with Heras-Casado a couple weeks ago at Zankel. Which leads me to two final thoughts, one is why did Peter Gelb insist this pastiche be in English (this insistence is clearly stated in the program notes) and two, will they ever be able to cast this again?

  on January 1, 2012 at 9:53 AM
  • operacat says:

    One way to keep it going is to let the new singers bring in one or two arias to replace some in the current pastiche. Therefore, Ariel could be played by Iestyn West or Viveca Genaux and Prospero could be played by Susan Graham or Ramon Vargas, and Samuel Ramey or James Morris could play Neptune (though wouldnt it be fun to cast Montserrat Caballe), etc etc. The four lovers and Miranda can always highlight young singers.

    on January 1, 2012 at 11:29 AM
  • Nerva Nelli says:

    Why would anyone want to revive this dreck when they could use the fanastic sets and costumes and singers for a real production of a real baroque opera?

    on January 1, 2012 at 2:36 PM
    • The Wistful Pelleastrian says:

      Nerva:
      Why would anyone want to revive this dreck when they could use the fanastic sets and costumes and singers for a real production of a real baroque opera?

      *********

      I think Mr. Gelb already explained why:

      I wanted to play the Baroque card, but with a faster dramatic rhythm tailored to modern attention spans

      on January 1, 2012 at 2:55 PM
      • Nerva Nelli says:

        a/k/a “Handel for Dummies”

        and it didn’t work, felt ENDLESS espoecially when the Rameau ballet kicked in.

        on January 1, 2012 at 2:58 PM
        • oedipe says:

          a/k/a “Handel for Dummies”

          and it didn’t work, felt ENDLESS

          What’s the point of this ‘thing’, indeed?

          It’s as if someone who feels that vegetables are good for you, decided to use some canned stuff and covered it in chocolate so people wouldn’t feel the actual taste, instead of finding ways to prepare the best and juiciest dish out of the real thing.

          on January 1, 2012 at 3:28 PM
• manou says:

  Well I only listened and could only endure the first half (given that it had already been 2012 for a while here). It felt a little like being force-fed an endless succession of cupcakes, chocolates and candy – some very dubiously flavoured.

  I guess you did have to be there.

  Bonne Année.

  on January 1, 2012 at 10:04 AM
• parpignol says:

  AP review is basically on target; should mention how fantastic Christie was conducting, and how wonderful (and baroque) the orchestra sounded in the house; Di Donato and Pisaroni both brilliant; the young lovers were terrific, several cherry-picked from Juilliard’s Bartered Bride; the musical pieces chosen mostly great; Roth Costanzo will have a great and important counter-tenor career and brought down the house with his entrance aria; his duet with Oropesa was sublime; the production was great New Year’s Eve fun, including the ballet; first act started slowly, and Daniels was in poor voice, I thought; second half was brilliant throughout; Domingo was being a good sport, and his issues really didn’t matter; he was almost being spoofed in long white beard saluted by the chorus as Neptune the Great (think, Zadok the Priest); the singing in English was totally okay; it is, after all, a Handelian language. . . Domingo sang in some language of his own, but Pisaroni sang perfectly in English as did, of course, the many native Anglophones in the cast. . .

  on January 1, 2012 at 12:02 PM