parterre box

Rolando Villazon says he’s willing to do nudity, but only if it’s called for in the story of the opera. Might La Cieca hope that such a plot-driven rationale be found to get budding hunkentenor Stephen Costello to strip off during OONY’s Guglielmo Tell this Sunday? Well, perhaps not. But (so La Cieca heard at the recent Liciathon) Costello sounds perfectly spectacular even when fully clothed, and surely, nudity or no nudity, will be a standout in the cameo role of the Fisherman. So La Cieca is willing to compromise: how about jeans and a ripped wifebeater? All right, with wading boots, that’s something a fisherman might wear. . .

UPDATE: He talks, too!

UPDATE: Not only are Gli Alagni scheduled for Aida at La Scala in 2006 (as noted yesterday), La Cieca has just heard that Peter Gelb has promised them a new production of Carmen at the Met in 2009-10. And, yes, Gheorghiu is the Carmen, not the Micaela. This is all at least four years in the future, so don’t book your tickets yet. Actually, this tidbit could have waited a few days (or years) but La Cieca wanted an excuse to post the scrummy photo of Bobby as Radames. Doesn’t he look like he’s about to say, “My father rules many lands and peoples, and that is why they call me Prince?”

La Cieca has just heard that the honor of opening the 2006 La Scala season will go to Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, who will grace a new production of Aida. Please let La Cieca be the first to congratulate maestro Riccardo Chailly for persuading these two megastars to take on the roles of the Priestess and the Messenger — now, who do you think he will get for the leads?

The most reliable source of all (i.e., himself) states that a long-term career goal for Rolando Villazon is … Wagner. Don’t panic yet; he’s talking Lohengrin sometime around 2015, as reported at Mouvement Nouveau.

Anna Netrebko is Anne Welles! Rolando Villazon is Lyon Burke! On the silver screen, every thrill, every shock of the best-selling novel by Jacqueline Susann!

Uh, make that “the best-selling opera by Giuseppe Verdi…