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.
Reminder, all: the First Ever East Coast Parterre Meet and Greet is coming soon: Sunday November 14, to be exact. Here’s a reminder of the complete details, and, as an added enticement, there’s some video (apparently sent back from the future; I don’t pretend to understand the technology) of La Cieca’s participation in the festivities—after…
The dark and dreary imagery from last week’s Regie quiz stumped more than a few of the cher public, until finally Manou made a hestitant guess: “Kat’a Kabanova?”—which was in, fact, correct. (The production is by Andrea Breth for La Monnaie.) La Cieca trusts this week’s photos will lead to a similarly entertaining range of…
On behalf of (left to right) Miah Persson, Pavol Breslik, Isabel Leonard and Nathan Gunn, your doyenne invites the cher public to gather at La Cieca’s Dream House for a chat during the prima of the Met’s Così fan tutte this evening beginning at 8:00 pm. Details after the jump.
“Following up on its brassy season opener, Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, New York City Opera is charming audiences with Intermezzo, a comedy inspired by a real-life episode in the life of the opera’s composer, Richard Strauss.” [New York Post]
According to Our Own JJ, there was skating on the ramparts of Seville last Thursday night. [New York Post]
The spectacular dramatic soprano was born 74 years ago today in Pontnewynydd, Wales. She is seen below in one of her less familiar (though no less effective) roles, Hanna in Die Lustige Witwe.
[@zwoolfe]
“…Don José stabs Carmen in the gripping finale.” [NYT]
Betsy (pictured) writes: Some people say I dress too gay, But ev’ry day, I feel so gay; And when I’m gay, I dress that way, Is something wrong with that?
La Cieca has just heard that magnificent American mezzo-soprano and, later, soprano Shirley Verrett died earlier today. She was 79.
Which would-be hunk has taken to stripping off his shirt in mid-rehearsal? He eventually covers his tawny torso with a t-shirt, but meanwhile he basks like an infant in his Met colleagues’ gaze.
This just in from the Met press office: “William Shimell will sing the role of Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte for all performances this season, replacing Wolfgang Holzmair who is suffering from a sinus infection.” Mr. Holzmair’s sinus infection is apparently scheduled to linger through December 2.
“A few critics hosannaed ‘Thanks be to Great God Lenny for smooching us once more with his plump, moist genius,’ but the majority echoed Cecil B. DeMille’s tactful reaction to Norma Desmond’s bizarre comeback screenplay, “There are some good things in it…’” Our Own JJ reflects on Christopher Alden‘s direction of A Quiet Place at…
Attention gamins, cigarières, picadors, and other drôles de gens: the time approaches for our weekly evening live chat. And this time La Cieca remembered! The opera is Carmen, the start time is 8:00 pm, and le programme avec les détails follows the jump.
“Tyler Perry‘s… For Colored Girls does feel like a ghoulish joke, a dated horror show bordering on parody. It’s both operatic and tone deaf, with explosions of hysteria that include a drunken Macy Gray performing a back-alley abortion and the conversion of a poem spoken by [Ntozake] Shange‘s Lady in Purple into an actual opera…
Were the Swan of Catania as immortal as his melodies, he would be would be 209 years old today! Admirers of the “King of Cantilena” are invited to follow La Cieca’s example and post YouTube clips of favorite Bellini morceaux.
I was trotting along and suddenly it started raining and snowing and you said it was hailing but hailing hits you on the head hard so it was really snowing and raining and I was in such a hurry to meet you but the traffic was acting exactly like the sky and suddenly I see…
With all due respect to Opinionated Neophyte‘s succinct but horrific suggestion, La Cieca has decided that the palm for post-publicist harebrainery should go to SF Guy‘s fully realized scenario of media synergy, with its characteristic whiff of “why not me” acting out. Congratulations, SF Guy!
For the first time in ages, a Regie production has managed to stump the panel! La Cieca will turn over all the cards and reveal to you that last week’s Regie quiz represented Haydn’s L’isola disabitata. You should have been able to figure that one out because the photographs depicted no desert island and lots…
La Cieca is delighted to note that old, old, old friend Brad Wilber (pictured) has relocated to his own niche of the internet. His Met Futures Page (the Necronomicon of opera queenery) may now be found, with the most recent and delicious updates, at bradwilber.com/metfuture.
“After a sketchy start to the season, the Met hit its stride on Friday with a revival of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale that’s as crisp as autumn in New York.” [New York Post] (Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)
“Enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Jovanovich also began taking paying jobs around town. His first mention in The New York Times came in a 1996 review of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players in The Gondoliers at Symphony Space. Anthony Tommasini noted Mr. Jovanovich’s bright voice and strapping physique…” [NYT]
Which critic—who has been eagerly spreading the news that NYCO’s A Quiet Place is a masterpiece—was observed snoring through most of the work’s first act?
Once again, La Cieca can do no better than to quote the ineffable BAB, who says, “The beauty of the Saturday afternoon Chats this summer has been that everyone picks what they want and then we compare notes with what’s happening elsewhere. Ordinarily I make no recommendations, but I have decided to do things differently…
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
