Which diva, who is known for being always free to speak her mind, insists that the “illness” blamed for her absence from a recent performance was nothing more than a convenient fiction? She continues to harbor a suspicion that those in charge simply didn’t want her to perform.
So, when is a diva’s expected surprise guest appearance really a surprise? When she doesn’t appear, of course—though, to be sure, with her track record, a last-minute cancellation is no surprise at all. What is perhaps surprising is the repertoire kerfuffle that escalated into the no-show: apparently not everybody can live for art.
Which maestro, a former music director of an American opera company, is now in the running for that title at the Met—assuming the company indeed has done a radical about-face in its plans?
Which veteran artist has finally made up his mind which opera to perform in concert next spring? Here’s a hint: after five decades of career, he’s sung this role many times before, yet this time it will be something original.
After what surely ranked as among the busiest (and silliest) pre-season ditherings ever, that scene everyone was so worried about, La Cieca is informed, is back where it belongs. The decision to restore the aria was made this afternoon, and the reason? Well, let’s just say the “purely dramaturgical” will always be trumped by the “prima donnaturgical.”
It appears that tenor Stephen Costello, whom some of you guessed was a subject of a recent blind item, is not so centrally involved in the controversy as was imagined.
Which Met production in the coming season has just had an entire scene axed? Was the aria in question too long, too vivid, too difficult to execute?
Though Brad Wilber‘s lamented site is no more, opera gossip refuses to die. For example, La Cieca has just heard that for an upcoming opening night at the Metropolitan Opera a beloved and (that word again!) charismatic tenor will return to the house after a six season absence. So now you know more or less when, all you have to figure out is where, oh where.
Cher Public