Questo e Quello
Since wer’re already in a Massenetesque frame of mind, cher public…
Even if no one guessed the correct opera on our most recent Regie quiz, Our Own Batty Masetto did the next best or perhaps even better thing…
Here La Cieca has scarcely returned home from a very pleasant concert performance of Pipe Dream (feeble show, attractive songs, fine cast) and what should she find in her inbox but an alert from the Playbill Club.
The Wall Street Journal‘s Heidi Waleson is the latest to chime in with the “Manon must be an innocent virginal child” thesis, and La Cieca is uneasy about the implications of this line of reasoning.
Rusalka, in the marvelous production by Stefan Herheim, is now streaming live from La Monnaie.
When the hard-partying heroine of Massenet’s Manon hits bottom, she literally lands in the gutter.
Another grim narrative of the Gelb years, and one I think is generally hogwash, is that the Met has (at least in theatrical terms) lost its way entirely.
If it wasn’t anything special as art or even entertainment, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s recent production of Rinaldo (March 24) does offer an excellent peg on which to hang an argument about the future of opera in America.
La Cieca hears that for coming seasons at the Met, Peter Gelb plans to mix a little religion in with the opera, or non-opera as the case may be.
Which erstwhile mezzo-soprano has had it with all those florid soprano roles she’s recently attempted?
I have been a devotee of Berlioz’s Les Troyens since I first discovered the Covent Garden recording conducted by Colin Davis.
As La Cieca makes her way back from the Windy City, she invites you, the cher public, to discuss anything off-topic and of general interest.
It was dear Oscar Wilde, wasn’t it, who devised that early mot du jour “Good writers borrow; great writers steal”…
A phrase no one ever thought to see in print…
Forgive La Cieca’s less-than-avid posting schedule over the last few days, please!
In breaking news today, Margaret Thatcher announces her resignation as British Prime Minister…
Now New York City Opera has given us a “Così Fan Tutte” starring the undead.
Prepare to swoon, cher public, as the Bayerische Staatsopera presents yet another of their hunk-o-rama webcasts, Eugene Onegin, starring Simon Keenlyside and Pavol Breslik.
When Verdi’s Macbeth returned to the Met Thursday night, miscasting doomed the revival as surely as any witch’s curse.
La Cieca hopes her cher public can pull themselves together and enjoy the usual off-topic and general interest comments this week.
Well, if there’s a lesson to be learned from our most recent Regie quiz, cher public, it is this: trust your gut.
The symbolism and themes of suffering and redemption in Parsifal have provided catnip for more than a few oddball stagings filled with Regie excesses.
Apparently, opera fans got the bright side of the bargain: say “Macbeth” in the theater and you court cataclysm; utter the name in the opera house and, as often as not, you merely predict disappointment.
The cher public are reminded that Verdi’s Macbeth will be broadcast and streamed from the Met tonight, and naturally La Casa della Cieca will be open for business.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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