By La Cieca 
It takes an Ercole Farnese to recognize Verdi done the Regie way, and he was exactly right that the opera in last week’s quiz was Un ballo in maschera. He did miss the mark on the character depicted: the heavily made-up figure in the sunglasses and plumed hat was not Ulrica but Riccardo (Wookyung Kim). The venue for Elisabeth Stöppler‘s staging was the Semperoper Dresden.
Another guessing game, after the jump.
James Jorden (who wrote under the names "La Cieca" and "Our Own JJ") was the founder and editor of parterre box. During his 20 year career as an opera critic he wrote for the New York Times, Opera, Gay City News, Opera Now, Musical America and the New York Post. He also raised his voice in punditry on National Public Radio. From time to time he directed opera, including three unsuccessful productions of Don Giovanni. He also contributed a regular column on opera for the New York Observer. James died in October 2023.
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Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
