Overture! Light the lights! And what heights you hit indeed, cher public, in La Cieca’s “Gold Standard” competition. The level of attention to detail of balance of repertoire, sensitive casting, and sheer yearning for dementia in your comments suggested that as a group, the parterriani are ready to take on the artistic direction of any of the world’s great theaters. A few of you exceeded even these generally elevated standards, and La Cieca will recognize you after the jump. Read more »
Here La Cieca has scarcely returned home from a very pleasant concert performance of Pipe Dream (feeble show, attractive songs, fine cast) and what should she find in her inbox but an alert from the Playbill Club. You know, that online service that offers discounts on shows that aren’t selling so well. But this is the first time she has ever seen the Playbill Club offer… well, see for yourself after the jump. Read more »
La Cieca hears that for coming seasons at the Met, Peter Gelb plans to mix a little religion in with the opera, or non-opera as the case may be. A couple of projects reportedly in the hopper for circa 2015-16 are the company premiere of Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise, to be directed by Robert Lepage, and a staged version of Handel’s Messiah, probably in the Deborah Warner production seen at the English National Opera in 2009.
The Met’s top-secret hush-hush season announcement will emerge from the Holy Grail shrine later today.
Will robots replace prompters? Will random number generators replace stage directors?
La Cieca hears that the New York City Opera is moving its administrative offices to 75 Broad Street, a location you surely remember as The International Telephone and Telegraph Building. The a 1928 structure boasts the mosaic dome glimpsed above, and (coincidentally) sits just across the street from the old Goldman Sachs building.
NYCO’s George Steel has “…a vision of gradually increasing productions, arriving at 10, with 40 performances…. the company would reach the 10-production benchmark by 2025…. Only about 10 percent of revenue this season is predicted to come from the box office, with the rest mainly provided by donors. The ratio does not change much over the phased growth plan, meaning that only $1 or $1.50 out of $10 will come from ticket purchases.” [New York Times]
Reviewing some old files while restoring the parterre mainframe’s hard drive, La Cieca ran across some predictions made in 2006 of what the current Met season would consist of. The details after the jump.
Cher Public