pluck

La Cieca hears that Joyce DiDonato took the proverbial “break a leg” too literally during the opening night of new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden yesterday. The mezzo caught her foot in a track on the steeply-raked stage and fractured her leg during the first act. Despite the pain, she continued the performance with a cane, and won a long ovation in the second act when Rosina complained “E’ un granchio al piede!” (It wasn’t until after the performance that the singer was taken to the emergency room; she soldiered on with what she thought was a sprain.)