Today on Operavore, Our Own JJ talks about wig-pulling catfights. Also heard (in passing) are Marilyn Horne and Susan Graham. Read more »
It’s easiest to write reviews when there are soaring triumphs and miserable failures. This is true in any field. One need only look back at the review of Birgit Nilsson‘s legendary debut as Isolde in 1959 or Pete Wells‘ much more recent takedown of Guy Fieri‘s “restaurant” in Times Square. Read more »
Separated at the 14th Street wig store: drag queen Lady Bunny and Disney princess Diana Damrau. Read more »
Here, on what appears to have been a rather chilly evening, are Michael Fabiano and his “mom” Renée Fleming in Die Walküre Lucrezia Borgia at the San Francisco Opera.
Awesome Anna Netrebko wraps her considerable talent around a the Europop hit “La Voix.” Note the correct use of hair extensions (without those ridiculous “rocker chick” bangs) and the plain but striking red gown.
We may have a contender in the category of Most Overdone Camp Diva Crossover Hair Extension.
What a concept, or La Cieca should say what a concept! This is Regie at its finest and most boldly satirical, genius that makes Graham Vick look like two-day-old steak frites. For this production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, the director (unnamed, alas in the YouTube clip below) utilizes the cinematic convention of the flash-forward in a postmodern epoch-bending variation. What if, this staging asks, Manon were to survive her various torments and travails? What would her life be like at, say, age 60? And what if, instead of hanging around mosquito-ridden Louisiana, she invested in a condo in Miami Beach [...]
Your feelings about the new Opus Arte DVD of Handel’s Acis and Galatea will have a lot to do with your tolerance for gentle whimsy. As a cultural consumer who tends to gravitate toward the more high-octane, Italianate drama of a Verdi overture or a Real Housewives of New Jersey hair-pull, I do my best to steer clear of pastoral operas about the lives and loves of those who tend sheep for a living, but an assignment is an assignment.
Cher Public