“Due to health reasons, Natalie Dessay has withdrawn from the performances of Massenet’s Manon. The role of Manon Lescaut will be sung by Anna Netrebko on 19 and 22 June and by Ermonela Jaho on 25, 29 June and 2, 5, 7 July.” [Teatro alla Scala]
Vincent Boussard’s 2011 take on Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi — a sporadically animated fashion show in (maybe) Victorian British horse country, displacing the courtyards of medieval Verona, with saddles a metaphor for strife, top hats for conformity — returned on Saturday (May 12) to Munich’s Nationaltheater. Read more »
“When the hard-partying heroine of Massenet’s Manon hits bottom, she literally lands in the gutter. But only when Anna Netrebko’s character sank into her downward spiral Monday night did her performance take wing.” Our Own JJ reviews the Met’s final new production of the season, then shares his wish list for the spring.
Another grim narrative of the Gelb years, and one I think is generally hogwash, is that the Met has (at least in theatrical terms) lost its way entirely.
The guest soloist at the the Wiener Opernball was just introduced as “Rumäniens Antwort auf Anna Netrebko, Angela Gheorghiu.”
It was indeed a curious sensation making a late morning trek to East 59th Street, a block devoted to showro0ms for bizarre upscale furniture and lighting fixtures, and then to enter a boutique cinema specializing in Hindi films (the big coming attraction right now is Desi Boyz) — and all this before sitting down in an auditiorium half- full of retirees to see a live performance of Don Giovanni from La Scala. That it worked as a Mozart experience I think can be chalked up to two factors: Robert Carsen‘s production and the constantly improving (if still imperfect) HD technology.
La Cieca is just back from the HD of Don Giovanni from La Scala: excellent singing through the whole cast, strong conducting (if tending to the slow side) by Daniel Barenboim, and a smart, chic production from Robert Carsen that frankly makes Michael Grandage look like an utter bumpkin. The presentation will repeat here in New York (and elsewhere) in coming days.
La Cieca (not pictured) is so gratified that there’s at least one arts journalist out there who’s willing to take on the really tough, gritty issues that so few are willing to touch. The scribe is Zachary Woolfe and the powderkeg topic du jour is Anna Netrebko‘s mid-scene breaking of character at the opening night of Anna Bolena as it relates to analagous instances of metaperformance across historical and cultural boundaries. Gripping stuff!
Cher Public