Okay, La Cieca has sifted all the evidence thus far, and she has done Pravda-style scrutiny of what was said and what was left unsaid (particularly by Peter Gelb) in the most recent New York Times analysis of the issue, and ignoring the most recent Jeremiads from Rome on account of the fact that pretty much everybody has come to the conclusion that Franco Zeffirelli is gaga. Read more »
Wow! That Daniel J. Wakin story appearing in tomorrow’s Times has everything but the bloodhounds snappin’ at Luc Bondy‘s rear end! Read more »
“The Metropolitan Opera’s Grand Revitalization Act” on the PBS NewsHour. Read more »
The Met’s new production of Janacek’s From the House of the Dead sets high standards for the company, but as an indicator of the Gelb Era, it may be too good to be true.
Is it just me, or does this seem like using From the House of the Dead as a club to beat a dead horse?
Our Own JJ interviews the Met’s general manager Peter Gelb in today’s New York Post.
La Cieca sat in on the “Cognitive Theater” discussion tonight at the New York Public Library, and the main impression she came away with is that Patrice Chéreau is a very quiet, soft-spoken man who happens to be a genius. (She was expecting something more fiery, but like many of the great divas, it seems this stage director saves his “flame” for the work.) Luc Bondy came off as a serious artist who either has run out of particularly interesting things to say in his work or else (maybe more likely) not a good fit for directing Tosca. Neither he [...]
The subject of the controversy: that most insidious and invasive attack on American culture since fluoridation or women’s suffrage, operatic stage direction. The conspirators: the ilk of Peter Gelb, Patrice Chéreau, Luc Bondy and Bartlett Sher, ”instigated” by Paul Holdengräber. The meeting place: that hotbed of radical thought the New York Public Library (Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street). The offer: you can buy tickets here — if you dare!
Cher Public