La Cieca
Looks like dear Liz Smith was prescient: yes, there is now a Sarah Palin opera! [Boston Herald]
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.
As your doyenne hinted previously, the Met just has announced that bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo “has withdrawn due to illness” from the opening night production of Tosca on September 21. George Gagnidze will perform the role of Scarpia on opening night and in further performances through October 14. Those of you who can’t be in the…
Yes, it does indeed appear that bass-baritone’s Met career has reached its finish. Could his replacement be that superstar who previously… uh, changed his mind on the deal? [That last part obviously no longer applies – LC.]
La Cieca has been warned to expect a shoe to drop (or should she say “shoes?) at the Met later today.
Wow, but he does this well! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/mYg9IvjVmds” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
George Steel manages to hold out for 140 words before dropping the inevitable name in this month’s issue of Edible Manhattan. The Man of Steel continues: The places that are famous tend not to be good. People are looking for an experience of authenticity and not really using their mouth. La Cieca should note that…
Simple, if not always grand.
The headlined phrase is a neologism (La Cieca should know, because she just made it up) and therefore will require a bit of explanation. Bear with your doyenne, cher public, because there’s eventually going to be a CD review in here somewhere. So. Many, many years ago, ere the earth was young and all that,…
A whole month it’s been since our last Regie quiz, when the opera depicted was admittedly a lesser-known work, Rossini’s La scala di seta. More tomfoolery in sleek modern interiors may be found in this week’s quiz, after the jump.
People often come up to me and say, La Cieca, “Who do you think will be the next Renée Fleming?” Well, all, right, that doesn’t actually happen often, or even rarely. In fact, it doesn’t happen at all. But be that as it may, La Cieca has found “the next Renée Fleming,” or at least…
Today, September 12, thousands of protesters opposed to health care reform marched in Washington and elsewhere, carrying signs like the ones pictured above. This “9/12 Project” is brought to you in part by Americans for Prosperity, which you will all recall is headed by David H. Koch, the billionaire who is to be honored at…
Brainstorming advertising slogans for the new Tosca at the Met: “Puccini’s Shocker, Shabbier Than Ever!” “Now with Three Times the Penetration!” “O Scarpia, Second to the Right and Straight on ‘Til Morning!”
Reformed twink turned Verdi impersonator Rufus Wainwright has joined the ranks of Koch fanciers who will perform at the American Voices concert relaunching the NYCO on November 5. The Roofster will play and sing, yes, that song again, “Les feux d’artifice” from Prima Donna, providing respite from NYCO singers present and past including Samuel Ramey, Lauren Flanigan, Amy Burton, Joyce…
La Cieca continues her salute to Kennedy Honoree Grace Bumbry with this 1973 documentary.
La Cieca is just guessing here (with some prompting from Zachary Woolfe) but she thinks she has divined the coup de théâtre climaxing the Met’s new production of Tosca. They shoot Mario, etc. etc., and then Karita Mattila runs crazily off the stage as the guards come rushing on. They search all about but cannot find…
Amazing Grace Bumbry has been named as a recipient of the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors. [Clef Notes]
Zachary Woolfe asks the musical question, “Who is this Peter Gelb anyway?” [NY Observer]
This is crossover that stops just short of crossdressing.
Which “gay” cougar has been showering her tenor colleague with even more affection offstage than on? (And, no, despite the clues, there are no homosexuals anywhere in this item.)
Which operatic legend intends to breeze into New York later this month to assess the work of his successor?
Offhand, La Cieca would never have thought of Così fan tutte done as a telenovela, but honestly? She’s seen a lot worse. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/oQwtjYkKoz0″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
Who but La Cieca’s idol and role model Liz Smith would have the wit (not to mention the balls) to compare Sarah Palin to Maria Callas, complete with quote from Sir Rudolf Bing, plus an offhand allusion to…
Ildebrando d’Arcangelo and Andrea Concetti get chummy in this scene from Don Giovanni. [via Barihunks]
Our Own JJ (not pictured) nominates the can’t-miss operatic and vocal events of the autumn of 2009. [NYP]
