La Cieca
UPDATE: La Cieca has heard from more than one reliable source that Juan Diego Flórez is yet another victim of whatever it is that’s mowing down all the Almavivas. The tenor, she hears, has canceled Barbiere di Siviglia at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Word on the street is that John Osborn will be released from…
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
The Met officially announced today that the company will stage Anna Bolena for Anna Netrebko for the opening night of the 2011-2012 season (old news to you, cher public!) and, the following season, Maria Stuarda for Joyce DiDonato. The company has no current plans to produce Roberto Devereux. In what La Cieca is choosing to…
UPDATED: Now with even more operatic tackiness! A sampling of Diva Dress Disasters submitted by the cher public.Seen worse disasters? Email La Cieca!
La Cieca hears that, beginning tonight, Jose Manuel Zapata will omit Almaviva’s final aria from the remaining performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia this season at the Met.
Oh, what more delightful headline can be imagined? Well, perhaps “Florida free-fall sends Giuliani from hero to zero” — that’s great news too. But back to important matters. Did La Cieca mention that for his current stint in Dead Man Walking The Teddster has shaved his head?
For those of you who were stumped by Lady Number Six, here’s the mysterious dame herself, Galina Vishnevskaya, in a more accustomed version of Lady Macbeth, the 1966 film by Mikhail Shapiro of Katerina Izmailova. The great diva returned to the screen only last year in Alexandra (directed by Alexander Sokurov), playing an elderly woman…
“Marcello Giordani is, how can I put this, what Franco Farina would sound like if he weren’t awful.” — My Favorite Intermissions
And now, the solution to the “Sleepwalking Scene” quiz.
Our Mystery Regie this time presents a standard opera in three acts. So let’s see one image from each act — although each image is from a different production of the work. Remember, cher public, if you actually recognize the production, hold your tongue and allow others to guess!
The clock is running out on the great Sleepwalking Scene contest, ladies and gentlemen! With only three hours and change to go, no one has successfully identified all 14 Ladies. Currently leading the pack with 13 correct are MC (not to be confused with Maria Callas) and DS (not to be confused with, uh, Dame…
A loyal reader calls this little number “the worst gown I’ve ever seen.” La Cieca she agrees that Mme. Guleghina’s fashion faux pas here just screams, “that was no lady, that was Lady Macbeth.” On the other hand, your doyenne has seen some rather ghastly frocks in her time, and she’s sure, cher public, that…
The unusual and undreamed-of videos just keep popping up on YouTube. Here’s a scene from Norma with Elinor Ross and Mario del Monaco!
Not a whole lot of news on matters operatic in the past couple of days, so La Cieca has decided a competitive quiz is in order. The clip below is the “Sleepwalking Scene” from Verdi’s Macbeth divided among 14 sopranos and mezzo-sopranos. All you have to do is name the 14 singers in the correct…
That superstar of the podosphere, Miss Frances Gumm, is back after six months of laying fallow. Or is La Cieca thinking of Frank Sinatra? Anyway, one of our absolute favorite online destinations, JudyCast, has returned with its distinctive mélange of entertainment gossip and otherworldy warbling as gaily subversive as ever. (No explanation is given for…
La Cieca’s dear friend Ed Rosen (doyen of Premiere Opera) sent along a clip from Rolando Villazón‘s first recital since his return to the stage early this month. According to Ed, “He first sings Massenet’s “Ouvre tes yeux,” followed by Tosti’s “Ideale.” Rolando’s voice sounds as beautiful as ever! The recital took place in Barcelona…
La Cieca has to say she has never taken much interest in the music of John Corigliano; in fact, she believes she used the phrase “Technicolor twaddle” to describe The Ghosts of Versailles. But your doyenne must give credit where credit is due. Boyfriend is looking fucking amazing for a 70-year-old! Take a look at…
La fée Manto (Francois Piolino) turns up the heat on old coot Anselme (René Schirrer) in this scene from Rameau’s Les Paladins.
A brainy reader points out to La Cieca that her little blog is mentioned this month in The New York Review of Books. The lovely and talented Sarah Boxer discusses a bevy of books on blogs and blogging, modestly mentioning only in passing her own tome on that very subject. As an example of the…
La Cieca is all for crossover, but… In response to several questions from commenters, La Cieca will say, no, she does not believe that Vitas takes “the” high e-flat. However, there is another genetic male on YouTube who does have the note: Lallanzinho!
The Lego Opera, previously heard performing Il trovatore, has returned with a new and innovative production of Tosca. Lego bricks outnumber human beings 62 to 1. Did you know that?
Don’t expect Met HD telecasts to show up on your pay-per-view channel anytime soon. According to the Associated Press, theater owners protested that the release of the telecasts to the In Demand service only 30 days after theatrical release would take revenue away from their broadcasts. “At least five of the Met’s operas this season…
The inimitable, irrepressible Miss Tallulah Bankhead once more graces the studio of Unnatural Acts of Opera with a guest appearance on Apocryphal Opera Anecdote Theater. The legendary stage star joins Our Own La Cieca and Miss Cratchitt to perform a pair of scenes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The main event, of course, is the second and…
La Cieca’s cher public will breathe a sigh of relief when she informs them that internet it-boy Izzy Anderson is, in fact, over 18. According to an email from YouTube impresario Wen Arto, Izzy is 23 and an aspiring performer. Wen continues, “Izzy wants to sing opera very badly but he is busy with ……
