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  • Clita del Toro: Dumb, off-topic topic: Singers whose recordings you have never, ever bought. Mine are: Domingo,... 9:07 AM
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  • Cocky Kurwenal: Quite surprised the Vicar hasn’t chimed in with your enthusiasm for Carolyn Sampson. Come... 8:42 AM
  • phoenix: On this inaugural festive weekend: very best wishes to Bobensane (and all parterrianensane comrades) for... 8:18 AM
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  • Feldmarschallin: sz first I thought this was a joke until I went on the website and saw it myself. She is also... 7:25 AM
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  • Marcello: The 2013 Whitsun festival in Salzburg will feature a new production of “Norma” ; starring... 6:32 AM

Valley of the doll song

Separated at the 14th Street wig store: drag queen Lady Bunny and Disney princess Diana Damrau. Read more »

Madame XY

Versatile diva Violeta Urmana takes on the demanding verismo role of Giordano’s Fedora for the first time at… Oh, sorry, that’s René Pape as Méphistophélès in Faust at Covent Garden! (Photo by Catherine Ashmore)

Sobriquet sister

It was, after all, only a matter of time.

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Today in corrections

“A profile of Richard Eyre – ‘All good actors are quick-witted’, 27 November, page 12, Review – mentioned the theatre director’s recollection of having played one of the Three Little Maids in a school production of The Pirates of Penzance. Clarification has since come from the interviewee that in Pirates he played Kate, one of four maids, the daughters of Major-General Stanley (the Three Little Maids, for their part, belong to The Mikado).” [The Guardian]

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The Quantification of the Diva: Part the Fourth

As we launch into the fourth and final movement of our étude, La Cieca asks the musical question, “Can a Contemporary Diva achieve Grandezza, or, for that matter, Drag Imitability?” Let’s see what the numbers tell us. 

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The Quantification of the Diva: Part the Third

And now, cher public, let’s put today’s singers, the Contemporary Divas, under the microscope. How do they stack up?

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The Quantification of the Diva: Part the Second

La Cieca continues to apply the Kang Method to the dozen divas of the Classic mode. This time, our five criteria for diva status offer fewer total points, but the difficulty level remains the same. Especially for Renata Scotto.

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I would like a waffle

La Cieca preens proudly  to present a peerless pair of protégés (left to right) Squirrel and Maury D’Annato. The bromancers attended (or one should say “took in”) last night’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Met, and as of early this afternoon they were still deconstructing.

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