“The bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, playing Leporello in the Met’s recent Don Giovanni, asked for vegetable sausage, said James Blumenfeld, the Met property master. ‘It was the most disgusting thing I ever smelled,’ Mr. Blumenfeld said. He added that the bass-baritone James Morris is known for preferring bananas when he is playing Scarpia in the fatal meal scene of Verdi’s Tosca.” [New York Times] (Photo: Ken Howard)
Mouth feel
“The bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, playing Leporello in the Met’s recent Don Giovanni, asked for vegetable sausage…”
By La Cieca La Cieca
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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Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
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.