Blind probe
Which opera production set off fireworks at the very first rehearsal when a leading lady was fired on the spot? Curiously, though, it wasn’t the conductor or the director who protested the unfortunate singer. So who was it who fixed her wagon?
Wagon, Porgy and Bess? Not Audra because that show is rehearsed and performed. Is there a porgy anywhere been rehearsed?
By the way, anyone can recioment music for an operatic boss (not a god). i am looking for a ringtone for my boss. BTW, I like him and we have a good working relationship.
Hmmmm….someone who fixes a wagon? Like a “wainwright?” Was Melody Moore fired from “Prima Donna?” I would surely have heard ere now.
…armer, you see what happens when our collective memory fails?
My finest hour, gone into the ether. I’m as sad as Rebecca Bottone must have been.
Your finest hour? You are meaning that adorable short story about your Dad? GAD, I hope not. That was one of the best things I’ve ever read on parterre and warmed the cockles of my ancient heart.
I am genuflecting to the cyberborg gods as I type, to invoke their clemency on your part.
Heh, Camille, you shame me. Sorry Dad.
(It was a good day for him today, actually- the National Theatre announced some very exciting casting for his translation of ANTIGONE, which they’re producing in May. Eight years dead and still working!)
Anyway- just to recap: il rogo is right about the Wainwright, of course. ‘Feux d’artifice’ is the final aria of the opera, which of course is called PRIMA DONNA (‘a leading lady’). This refers to the mysterious disappearance from the cast of Rebecca Bottone.
I booked tickets for Antigone this very morning!! I shall listen to the translation with more care and try to forget Jean Anouilh (not forgetting Sophocles).
manou- what a smashing coincidence. I hope you enjoy it!
(you can give yourself a sneak preview of the translation on YouTube if you want- Dad directed ANTIGONE, along with two other Sophocles plays, for the BBC in the 80s and some brave soul has uploaded all three to YouTube.
Three Sophocles plays on BBC2 on successive nights. Them was the days)
armer – will definitely have a look. Meanwhile I have ordered the text (Theban Plays) from Amazon.
Also booked She Stoops To Conquer – did anyone in your family work with Goldsmith on that?!
“Fireworks” makes me think Ariadne. And “a” leading lady make me think more than one leading lady, so either an Ariadne or a Zerbinetta. But I don’t see how the “wagon” fits. At least not yet.
Never mind. I’m wrong.
Wagon?
Let’s see.
Hmmmm!
Musetta sort of.
Am I getting warm?
I remember the BBC2 Sophocles plays from the 1980s – I didn’t realise it was that long ago. I am strangely fascinated by Orff’s Antigonae – a fascination which has endured for 40 years, helped by the presence of Inge Borkh on the DG recording. Tripping lightly sideways, a friend often talked of the Cles family. There was Sopho of course, but also
Andrew (and his lion)
Perry the Tyresome Prince
Damn O’ the Irish cousin (much given to expletives) with his sword
Testy – the angry one
and John, who messed about with the occasional python
Keks – this is very funny. My husband and I read it at the Gotter interval and laughed out loud (or LOL).
I think the met fired Mara Zampieri BEFORE she got on stage…..Finally..good taste…..
Now..Zampieri-lovers…send me no letter bombs..I got three Saturday for not adoring everything Leontyne did.
Without diversity…what a boring world…..
I bet some of you would prefer Gingrich in bed to Brad Pitt….well….I go too far perhaps.
Well I guess all the German opera houses, La Scala, Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Zürich and the Spanish houses were stupid for hiring Zampieri over and over again. She was never dismissed once only hired again and again for productions with prominent conductors as well. I probably heard her in a total of 50 performances in Wien, Zürich, Stuttgart, La Scala and München and never once did she disappoint. How many times did you actually hear her and where?
and I forgot her Wally at the Bregenzer Festspiele which was spectacular.
I have to defend Mara Zampieri. I only saw her twice, once as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West and earlier as Leonora in Forza del Destino. I found her interpretations very engaging and focused, even if her vocal production (in Fanciulla) was not consistently so. She had a beautiful tone the night I went to see her Forza Leonora. I didn’t know she ever sang at the Met.
--> My favorite Zampieri aria recording:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IvR0ESZqQeI
Phoenix, I love Mara’s Lady macbeth with Bruson as Macbeth!
Clita, I remember Zampieri did the role, but Macbeth is not a favorite of mine, so I passed it by. Although strangely enough I also feel that Macbeth, out of all Verdi’s operas, has the best solo writing for the male voice.
I think Zampieri’s may be a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. She came to the Met at the same time that Millo was rapidly becoming a star as a Verdi soprano. She had sung on the parks and on tour with the Met, and covered at the Met itself. (Ernani and Simon Boccanegra) The Met was looking for ways to cast her without waiting the usual scheduling years. Zampieri came then to the Met for her debut in Don Carlo. She may or may have not been in good voice. She may or may have not gotten along with the conductor or some colleagues. The case was that the Met management decided that this was a great chance to present Millo, that she would be more succesful as Elisabetta, and would give her her first Met broadcast.
I don’t believe the Met ever “fired” Zampieri. They just had in hand someone they liked better.
It was a smart move for the Met. Millo continued covering for a couple of years while becaming its brightest star for several years.
I never heard Zampieri live, so I’m not passing judgement on her capabilities. Nor would I dismiss the possibility that indeed she was singing poorly during the rehearsal period. But I’ve never heard of anyone involved in those rehearsals claim that was the case.
Just a note that music from Wainwright’s “Prima Donna” will be played tonight on WQXR (and WQXR.org for those outside of NYC area) at 7 p.m. Randal Turner, Melody Moore and Taylor Stayton and Kathryn Guthrie-Demos (Rebecca Bottone’s replacement) will be singing.
http://www.wqxr.org/#/press/rufus/