The amazing acute hearing of Anthony Tommasini detects an improvement in the acoustic of that place they used to call the New York State Theater, in fact, he’s willing to commit that the sound is “considerably better than it used to be.”
Which is pretty fucking impressive, considering that the last time TT heard an “unenhanced” opera performance in that space was more than 10 years ago. Read more »
The embattled NYCO chairwoman is 59 years young today!
The people have spoken, and so from henceforth George Steel will be known by his, whatchamacallit, you know, his sobriquet, which (per your decree) is “The Man of Steel.”
La Cieca thought she should review at least a couple of the biggest challenges facing The Man of Steel as he and the NYCO begin a restoration project that, as the saying goes, makes Hoover Dam look like an egg cup.
First and foremost, of course, is giving the heave-ho to Susan L. Baker, preferably after guilting her into flinging a couple million bucks to the company strings-free. Since (as La Cieca hears) Steel was not Baker’s choice to ascend the throne, she should reasonably be readying her exit even as we speak. Prediction: an announced resignation at the same time Steel offcially starts the job in February. Read more »
La Cieca tries to be charitable, especially to members of her own gender, but she has come to the conclusion that it is time for Susan Baker to shut the hell up. NYCO’s new General Director has been chosen and is about to take office, and the more Baker yammers, the more she makes George Steel come off like an ineffectual lapdog, which goodness knows La Cieca hopes he’s not going to be. (Bad enough that some in the media are calling him “Two-Face.”) Back away from the press conferences, ma’am, and please just let your hired hand do his [...]
In what will probably stand in history as her most wrong-headed judgment call ever, on December 24 La Cieca concluded that George Steel would not accept an offer from the New York City Opera. Your doyenne cited two reasons for her position: first, that the job wouldn’t have much in the way of art to offer for a few years as the company struggled to stay alive financially and second, that dumping Dallas for New York so early on would be either a dick move or else perceived as a dick move, which in the broader view amounts to the [...]
He’s interested. He’s not interested. And yet, he’s still in the running. According to former NYCO honcho Mark Weinstein, “…the embattled company will appoint George Steel, the former director of Columbia University’s Miller Theater, to the [director] position in early January.” Need I add that Susan Baker hasn’t answered the phone in days? Now, La Cieca loves a mystery as much as the next gal, but this is cloak-and-dagger taken to an extreme of absurdity. Your doyenne will now go on record with a prediction that the new director will be Colonel Mustard in the conservatory, with the lead pipe. Get off the fucking pot, [...]
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