Those few of you who cherished meager hopes for any sort of artistic excellence at the Met might as well log off now, because the gala New Year’s Eve Tosca at the Met next season is going to be conducted by that hot young talent James Levine. Upon hearing the news, La Cieca was quoted as saying, “Oh for fuck’s sake.” 

You may recall that Levine’s experience with Tosca, dating back to 1871, includes the company’s previous new production of the work, when he led a whopping one performance of the 16-performance run.

parterre.com is now accepting predictions for when Bryn Terfel will drop out of the role of Scarpia.