When Roberto Alagna took his solo bowl, he was greeted by a single very loud boo, or La Cieca should say a single loud boo-er, who uttered the disapproving syllable several times. At first the tenor ignored his detractor, but then, on the second round of bows, the booing returned. Alagna made a “bring it on” gesture, then turned to the audience as if to ask “whose side are you on?” The ovation increased, again punctuated with booing, at which point Alagna turned upstage to the company, who joined in the applause. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who presumably was struggling to find the English equivalent of the phrase “Rideau, rideau,” bear-hugged the pugnacious tenor, bringing the evening to a close.

La Cieca’s witness to this activity assures her that these two incidents were the only moments of drama in the show.

“I heard that a bunch of cuts had been put back in, at William Christie‘s demand, as recently as this week. and so the show just drags on and on and on repeating lyrics. There are probably three or four upbeat numbers in the whole show; all the rest feel like dirges.”

“The whole Hermia/Demetrius/Helena/Lysander subplot thing just came across as ill-conceived and dragged time in the opposite direction.  The libretto is clunky and very, very repetitious, not to mention numerous lines that contradict what the singer has just stated, especially for Placido Domingo‘s character. It feels slapdash, hurried: there’s no poetry in any of the words.  

“The first act is so terribly slow and dull that by the time you get to the end of it, when Placido has his first entrance, the audience applauded it because until then, nothing really had happened, and because he’s famous.  Unfortunately, he still doesn’t know his music and had to rely on a very audible prompter (whom I heard from the balcony) which is sad, because he has the least amount of music in the show, save Ferdinand.

“The sets and costumes are the highlights, hands down.

“In a few moments, Joyce DiDonato devoured the set– she hammed it up more than anyone else. Danielle DeNiese‘s coloratura in the Scarlatti Handel aria in act 1 was a disaster, but her 11 o’clock aria was fairly well executed. Layla Claire, Anthony Costanzo, and Luca Pisaroni gave the best performances, followed by Joyce and David Daniels.”

EARLIER: The events, as they happened, on Out West Arts’s Twitter.

10:45 PM: La Cieca hears that a demonstration of some kind happened at the Met at the end of the first intermission of Faust tonight. Information is sketchy at this time: “A man began shouting ‘Occupy Wall Street’ repeatedly immediately b4 the start of Act III @MetOpera ‘s Faust tonight,” says one witness; another reports “At the Metropolitan Opera: Occupy Wall street disrupts the beginning of act two of Faust, booed by the audience they were quickly escorted out . . . OWS being escorted off of Lincoln Center property.”

The email, obtained by parterre.com, reads:

Dear NYC Opera Board Members,

I wanted to give you this late-hour update on the outcome of our 14-hour negotiating session with Local 802 and AGMA, the unions representing our orchestra and chorus.

I am sorry to report that at about midnight, the unions rejected our final offer, which represented considerable movement from our initial positions. The unions made no counterproposal, and their summary rejection of our offer puts us at an impasse . . . .

The practical implication of impasse is that we will implement elements of our final offer, and we will offer to meet with the unions further to explore if there is any way to find a way forward.

I am at a loss to explain the unions’ move, but I expect they sense the need to push beyond “the end,” either as an expression of helplessness and/or anger, or as a negotiating “hail mary.” In any event, it puts everyone in a difficult position.

There are a lot of ways this situation could go, and I will keep you updated as the situation develops . . . .

yours,

George

Dear Members of the Company,

I’m pleased to inform you that late tonight the Met has reached a new, three-year agreement with Local One.

FURTHER: La Cieca hears a very reliable rumor indeed that NYCO is in serious negotiations with El Museo del Barrio to relocate the troubled company there.

EARLIER: La Cieca’s flawless if rather vague sources inform her that some big news is about to break concerning New York City Opera. Your guesses as to the details, cher public?

EARLIER: The news has just broken that Elina Garanca “is expecting a baby at the end of October…. Garanca and her British-born husband, conductor Karel Mark Chichon, had informed their friends of the good news in a letter.” With the mezzo reportedly due in October, who’s going to sing Giovanna Seymour at the Met? [AFP]

EARLIER: La Cieca hears that the “fallen” Walküre from last night is mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti, who sings the role of Siegrune.

An eyewitness to the performance reports: “She was sliding down the plank and either tripped or fell when she hit bottom. One of the other Valkyries helped her up. She went offstage for a few minutes and then returned the audience applauded when she came back onstage. Scary few minutes. As for the rest of it, somewhat better than the opening night stream vocally but a lot of miscasting and appalling direction. The Machine is distracting. Money wasted.” (Walküre Photo: Ken Howard.)

The reader further invited La Cieca to reflect on this concept of jishuku, or self-restraint, which seems to manifest itself at the moment as an attitude that in the current state of emergency in Japan, indulging in luxuries is considered distasteful and repugnant.

Now, what this has to do with opera is that reportedly the tickets for  JapanArts’ presentation of the Met’s June tour to Japan (at a top of 64,000 Yen) are not selling well, despite superstar casting.

And now, a reflection from a rank-and-filer at the Met:

In the absence of any official announcements about how long the Met will wait and on what basis it will be making its decision, there has been plenty of speculation among company members about why the Met is so hesitant to cancel the tour. It seems highly improbable that it could feel confident about going in light of the State Department’s continued Travel Warning, numerous subsequent aftershocks of great strength—Thursday and another today, and the ongoing instability at Fukushima—remote, yes, but of concern nonetheless because of the general lack of data, misinformation, and conflicting reports on the levels of radiation down the line in the food chain and water supply further away from that area.

Many of us had come to the conclusion you mention: that the Met is looking to lose major dollars—and perhaps the goodwill of JapanArts—by being the one to cancel. But if the Met is waiting for JapanArts to cancel and the solo artists are waiting for the Met or JapanArts to cancel, the question I have is this: why, if JapanArts has been insisting all along that everything is back to normal in Tokyo (I have read many stories to the contrary), what would prompt JapanArts to cancel now?

Expect an announcement—of some sort—from NYCO by week’s end.

PREVIOUSLY: La Cieca has heard of sweeping changes of cast in important Verdi revivals across the pond: Elisabete Matos has suddenly been dropped from Rome Opera’s Riccardo Muti-helmed Nabucco, with Csilla Boross jumping in as Abigaille.

Meanwhile, over at London’s Royal Opera, Micaela Carosi has vanished from the title role of Aïda after what La Cieca heard described as her “execrable” performance at the general rehearsal. Liudmyla Monastyrska is now scheduled to sing the first night on Friday.

Well, your own Big Momma (i.e., La Cieca has been speaking to a Met insider (pictured) about certain recent headline-grabbing events. The insider says, “Bull!”

Now, remember, La Cieca is simply quoting her informant’s information and opinions here:

First I’ll start with the Gelb announcement.

Bullshit!

They are in an utter panic as to whether Levine will even be able to remount the podium this season, and what happens in the future. Wilford is not helping matters whatsoever, and Levine’s [difficult] brother acting as liaison makes it all the worse. There are contenders, top among them Nézet-Séguin, who although rumored last season as a potential gentle lead-in replacement was taken out of contention when Philly offered him the Music Director position. [However, changes of events in Philadelphia] might lead Nézet-Séguin to the Met much faster than he, or Levine, thinks….

A certain Golden Girl essentially ended her Met career with that fall production…. From what I understand, all future offers that are not actually contracted have been pulled without discussion. All contracted performances on the table for the next few seasons are being given to the diva as a choice: if the administration feels the repertoire is appropriate and the Golden Girl can still sing it (and those roles are very limited as far as admin. is concerned) she can retain them but must prove in rehearsal that she can actually still sing them. Her choice with the other repertoire they had planned for her is that she gracefully pull out, or she will be unceremoniously bought out of the contract and replaced with little explanation other than vocal or “health” issues….

You might be wondering what happens with the upcoming second addition to the Ring Cycle. With Levine most likely off the podium, a Brünnhilde completely incapable of singing the part, a Wotan who has yet to get though a [production] of Walküre in a house half the size without canceling the majority of performances, and a production twice as long and technically the most complicated of the four that did not have the luxury Rheingold had with rehearsals in the fall, full scale panic has set in…. The one last thing I’ll say about the Golden Girl is that considering what has been occurring concerning her future, don’t be surprised if several others are already in line or being courted to take her place at this very moment as she is the centerpiece of the production and everyone knows she can’t sing it.

One last thing, which I know you won’t want to hear being a fan, Gheorghiu canceling the entire run of her Juliettes claiming illness (for a month, really?) has sealed her fate at the Met.

EARLIER: La Cieca hears from a generally reliable source that James Levine has resigned from his post as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Expect an official announcement later today.

The press release continues: “In Siegfried, Gary Lehman sings the title role on October 27, November 1, 5 matinee, April 21 matinee, and April 30; Stephen Gould sings it on May 9. In Götterdämmerung, Gary Lehman sings the role of Siegfried on January 27, February 7, 11, and May 3; Stephen Gould sings it on January 31, February 3, April 24, and May 12 matinee.”

In other news, the Met will perform Siegfried and Götterdämmerung during 2011-2012. Other details for the season will be revealed next week at the company’s annual season announcement press conference.