La Cieca (not pictured) tips her hat (pictured) to the participants in our second “Regie to the Rescue” competition. So fine were two of the entries that your doyenne—who you know is something of a Liza Elliott

—worked herself into a positive tizzy trying to decide on a winner. The result, plus the return of the prodigal “Regie Quiz” feature, after the jump.  

First we have Porgy Amor‘s reworking of L’elisir in vaguely Herheimesque terms as an examination of the complicated relationship between reality and the theater:

Nemorino is an aspiring tenor who in love with the soprano in the Tristan production. Studying the libretto and score, she comments on it to the company with amusement. She is way out of his league — a polished, worldly diva who studied with legends. His voice is small, his musical education and technique second rate. He has as yet sung only comprimario roles.

Contrasting is sm‘s take on the opera buffa as a fantasia on alternative lifestyles, substance abuse and acne rosacea:

Dulcamara gives him several bottles to take and Nemorino plunges into his alcoholic ways to Adina’s fury, who says she is going to join up with the fetishist leather guy Belcore in six days.

What is there for La Cieca to do but to “keep sitting on the fence,” as the song says? A tie is declared and both these illustrious rivals will be sent the coveted Amazon.com Gift Card.

And now, cher public, get out your Regie goggles, because the Quiz has returned, and it’s mad as hell.

Remember, cher public, as always: the purpose of the Regie Quiz is to guess at the identity of the opera based on the evidence of the photographs. If you recognize the production in question, please keep quiet while others try to puzzle it out.

Netrebko photo by Ken Howard.