Due to wellness, it is with deep contentedness that Marina Poplavskaya will after all dance the ballet of “The Red Shoes” sing the role of Alice in Robert le Diable at the Royal Opera contrary to the earlier announcement of a cast change.
La Cieca predicts you will be seeing more of the same old puritans at the Met next season, and she’s not just talking about the ones who slouch around during intermission hissing, “You call that a trill?” But uou will also see six new productions (including a Met premiere of a 21st century work) and the local debut of one of opera’s most controversial stage directors. Read more »
UPDATE, Tuesday, 7:45 AM: The Met sent out a press release at 1:27 AM New York time today announcing major changes to its roster for the tour of Japan this month. La Cieca has revised the following gossip item (which appeared at 11 PM last night) to reflect the Met’s confirmations. Read more »
Willy Decker’s Traviata has garnered praise from critics and audiences alike in the week since its Metropolitan premiere, but (as was to be expected) this praise comes over the complaints of a select few traditionalists, a handful of lonely boos amid the mostly enthusiastic applause. Their objection (as usual) is that Decker’s production betrays the “original text” of “Verdi’s La Traviata.” But these detractors should consider that La Traviata is a work in which questions of betrayal and fidelity are specifically at issue—one that reminds us that sometimes, counterintuitively, the only way to remain faithful to someone or something is [...]
The answers of millions of supplicants worldwide (and thousands of Met-goers citywide) have been answered. “[Peter Gelb] said there were no plans to replace Mr. Zeffirelli’s productions of La Bohème and Turandot. [New York Times]
La Cieca (not pictured) hopes to hear reactions from the cher public who attended this afternoon’s HD of Don Carlo, a preview of which follows the jump.
Controversial diva Marina Poplavskaya is the subject of a profile in the current New Yorker that does not include any bloodhounds snappin’ at her rear end, but that’s about the only life experience omitted. Highlights include the soprano’s lugging a trolley full of luggage across 14 lanes of Buenos Aires traffic following a dispute with a hotel manager, marking up in a dozen different colors the orchestra score of the Verdi Requiem, and the bit where she runs out the stage door in full evening dress, hops on a motorcycle, and zips off to the airport. Believe me, this is [...]
“You see, I don’t play roles. I find color for every role inside of me.” The soprano Marina Poplavskaya likes to talk about how she sees music as colors. She is also given to morbidly poetic formulations like “Let the harmony penetrate you like a silent knife through your heart.” [New York Observer]
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