La Cieca was franky overwhelmed by both the volume and the quality of the “Season Brochure” contest entries, so she’s decided to ask you, her cher public, to help decide the winner. In this and four other posts, she will present five finalists. Later today, she will post a ballot so you, the cher public, may vote on your #1 favorite.

Indiana writes:

The 2007 season for Buffalo Grand Opera promises an eclectic mix of mysterious and delirious works, as well as a gala extravaganza featuring the gutly personality Stephen Colbert as special bear.

The beloved classic, Donizetti’s La sprezzatura di Springfield boasts a new production directed by Andrew Sullivan, with costumes by Julian Schnabel. This lavish staging updates the action to Mt. McKinley in the early part of the twentieth century. Soprano Renee Fleming stars as Leonora, a virginal noun who for most of the opera is disguised as a mysterious verb. Renee Fleming is perhaps best known from TV’s 24 where she sang the lilting melody “Erwartung.”

The neglected masterpiece Der Zaubervogelnachlass will be revived for only three and a half performances. You probably already know the famous “Teatime Chorus” which was used on the soundtrack of the Academy Award winning film Dances with Wolves. Due to the length of this work, all performances will begin at noon.

Finally, the company will present the New York premiere of the opera The Life and Times of Norman Podhoretz in a co-production with La Scala and Glyndebourne. The libretto is by Tom Wolfe, based on the play What the Butler Saw, and the music is adapted from the works of Nicolo Jommelli by maestro Rene Jacobs. Exciting newcomer Ann Coulter makes her operatic debut as the glamorous heroine, and the men in her life are portrayed by Glenn Reynolds, Glenn Greenwald and Glenn Beck.

Generous support for Buffalo Grand Opera’s laundry was provided by the Margaret Dumont Foundation and the National Endowment for the Sackbut.