where the boas are
Legendary Ladies from Sweden Zarah Leander and Birgit Nilsson celebrate Christmas 1977 with a belt-off.
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.
edie adams 1927-2008
Actress, singer and comedienne Edie Adams died on Wednesday at the age of 81. La Adams performed such operatic roles as Hanna Glawari and Despina in Cosi fan tutte regionally, and she created leading roles on Broadway in Wonderful Town and L’il Abner. She is particularly remembered for her personal and professional partnership with TV […]
season opener
Our Own JJ (right) reviews the Met’s revivals of Don Giovanni and Salome in Gay City News.
‘diva’ does downtown
Tonight at Splash, Dorothy Bishop in “Viva la Diva,” directed by our own JJ: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/tMUy8bDyt94″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] More information on the show here.
o ruddier than the regie
Well deducted, various members of the cher public, for indeed the most recent Regie quiz depicted a production of Charpentier’s Louise (as envisioned by Christof Loy for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.) And what grisly work might this be? (Photos after the jump)
verrett and bumbry, if you please
The second half of the historic Dual/Duel Diva Concert at Carnegie Hall on January 31, 1982. Grace Bumbry and Shirley Verrett Concert Part 2 Concert in Honor of Marian Anderson Verdi: Aida Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur Verdi: Otello Bellini: Norma Encore of Norma duet Opera Orchestra of New York; Eve Queler. Carnegie Hall, New York, 31 […]
if ever i would leave you
Got to give credit to Bryn Terfel: he’s now canceling a whole season in advance. The bass-baritone scrapped his spring 2009 appearance in the Met’s L’elisir d’amore several months ago, and now he’s pulled out of the company’s 2009 opening night, a new production of Tosca that now stars Karita Mattila and Marcelo Alvarez. The […]
pubic domain
La Cieca has managed to obtain a few fragments of the camera rehearsal for Saturday afternoon’s Salome HD telecast. Note the cutting-edge video techniques employed to distract the (presumably) pre-adolescent audience from Karita’s Kooter of Kontroversy. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/UdWjLz5NY-E” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
tune up, plug in, walk out
La Cieca hears from a spy at the Met that tenor Roberto Aronica “after belching through the first part of the Butterfly orchestra rehearsal,” retreated to the company canteen where, the tenor complains, he received “an electrical shock from the espresso machine.” We are told that the singer is spending the night in a local […]
lean and mean
La Cieca thinks that President Bush or anyway Senator McCain should hire Peter Gelb as, at the very least, director of communications. A brutally honest yet constructive reaction to the current economic debacle can be found in an internal email from the Met’s chief to his staff. FInnish minge glimpses are not the only area in […]
rebel without a cooze
Although the staging of the Met’s Saturday afternoon’s production of Salome will remain unchanged (i.e., Karita Mattila intends to jam out with her clam out) the HD cameras will demurely divert their lenses at the climactic moment of the Dance of the Seven Veils. According to Culture Monster, instead of the Full Mattila, the video […]
adieu forets
La Cieca has launched a new project, cher public, and she hopes you will support her in this enormous endeavor. Your doyenne is in the process of scanning the entire dead-tree oeuvre of parterre box, the queer opera zine and uploading for your online enjoyment. UPDATE: the first ten issues of parterre box are now […]
need you ask?
“When Mr. Tetzlaff emerged on the scene in his early 20s (still trim, boyish and energetic at 42, he does not look much older)…” [NYT]
bella filth d’amore
A nugget of lead from the Golden Age. Rigoletto Trainwreck Passengers on the doomed vehicle include Sayao, Kiepura, Morelli and Glaz, conducted by Halasz from St. Louis in 1940.
voices of queens
A reporter/graduate student who recently interviewed La Cieca is asking if any of you cher public would be willing to answer a few questions for an article he’s writing on the impact of the Met’s HD broadcasts on “opera queens outside of larger cities.” So, any of you rural or otherwise bucolic parterre.com readers who […]
molto legato
If Wenarto, members of Cirque du Soleil and Rolando Villazón got really really high one night, this might be the result. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://ca.youtube.com/v/A6udHRk1llU” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] (In fact, this music video stars Serge Desrosiers and was directed by Sandrine Béchade.)
ich steh’ im regie und warte auf dich
And a very strange Regie our last Regie quiz was, but several of you worked out that the opera was Eugene Onegin, in Achim Freyer‘s new production at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin. And now, cher public, can you name this obviously girly opera? (Remember, if you recognize the production, QUIET — let others […]
she’s alive!
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Dorothy Bishop returns to NYC with a revamped version of her opera/cabaret show “Viva la Diva” at Splash Bar on October 15 at 8:00 pm. As always, our own JJ directs the show. Dorothy’s Splash debut features new material, new costumes, new “Viva la Diva” dancing boys and (perhaps […]
down low
Katherine Jenkins apparently has already begun her vocal studies with Placido Domingo! In fact, the legendary tenor has gone so far as to lend the Welsh songbird his own personal orchestra parts for “Nessun dorma!”Â
NYCO torpedoes staffers; “pretty girl” rescued
In what is becoming the New York City Opera’s only conduit of information to the public, a Friday afternoon news dump reveals that the company has laid off 11 members of its administrative staff. The layoffs are “because of financial pressures and a lack of work caused by the cancellation of most of its season.” […]
the two and only
Sharing the stage another diva in one’s identical fach always puts a girl on her mettle, La Cieca has always said, and no better proof of that just-invented shibboleth is there than this week’s edition of Unnatural Acts of Opera. Grace Bumbry and Shirley Verrett grace the stage of Carnegie Hall on January 31, 1982, […]
voi sapete quel che fa
According to BBC News, “Classical star” Katherine Jenkins hopes to “take up” Placido Domingo‘s “offer” to “train” her to be an “opera singer.” “Placido Domingo has offered to train me and I’ll probably go to his house when we both have the time free,” Jenkins explained. “He’s a very generous person and he’s always trying […]
blast from the present
La Cieca has just learned that half a million dollars’ worth of the Met’s prime orchestra tickets (usually $175 – $220) for Doctor Atomic will be made available to the public at $30.
chevelure
During an intermission at the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala (was that only last week?), Susan Graham interviews Ramón Vargas and Renée Fleming. Miss Fleming’s wig, we are told, is made of yak hair, but what’s Susie’s excuse?