La Cieca hears the distressing news from Paris that Rolando Villazon was advised by his current management to cancel his March appearances as Werther in order to “rest and refresh the voice,” but as of today is still planning to go on in the Massenet opera.  Villazon’s appearances in Paris run through March 18, leaving a gap of less than two weeks between his final performance there and his first Nemorino here in New York.

UPDATE: Per the Opéra National de Paris website, VIllazon has canceled the first performance of the Werther revival but still plans to sing the remaining repetitions beginning March 3. 

Perhaps even more disturbing is the report that Villazon has marked almost the entire rehearsal period, so nobody can really say at this point whether he can sing the Werther or not.

Apparently it has been made clear to the tenor that, after the recent rocky Lucia,  his entire future Met career stands or falls upon the Elisir revival beginning March 31.  In the meantime, La Cieca hears, Villazon has been shopping around for new French representation that would handle exclusively concert and crossover work.

La Cieca certainly hopes that the rumors are wrong, and that Villazon will pull himself together both for Paris and New York, but, well, she’s not completely optimistic. In the meantime, La Cieca will be very interested to hear reports on tomorrow’s first night Tuesday’s performance of Werther.