Questo e Quello
The unthinkable has happened: La Cieca managed to stump the panel. No one of you (or all of you acting as a committee) could guess that last week’s Regie quiz represented a production of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, as produced at the Nationaltheater Mannheim by Joachim Schlömer. This week’s puzzler is not exactly…
The premiere of Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival (starring, of course, Jonas Kaufmann) has just started. You can listen to the live broadcast here.
Your doyenne is occupied this afternoon getting Our Own JJ tweezed, powdered and cinched for his sojourn to Caramoor, and that’s a full-time job, my dears, because you know those venues that admit natural light can be most unkind to vain middle-aged queens. As such, La Cieca will leave you to your own devices for this…
So, if you wondering when the spit is going to hit the fan (to quote another great ’50s teen angst opus), well, the date you’re looking for is October 9, 2010. Why is that date so special or unusual, you ask? Well, for the currently ailing James Levine, it’s the day he’s supposed to be in…
By popular demand (by which La Cieca means she is going to make this discussion happen if it kills half the free world), here’s the 2002 parterre box interview with Mawrdew Czgowchwz author James McCourt.
The much-publicized Takesha Meshé Kizart has withdrawn “due to illness” from the title role of Maria di Rohan at Caramoor tomorrow night (!!!) to be replaced by her cover, Jennifer Rowley.
A very happy birthday to Susan Graham, who is 50 years old today!
UPDATE: The news breaks today, and yes, it’s Debbie, but no, it’s not Shirtless Nathan. Letting his defenses down in the role of Frank Butler at Glimmerglass will be Rod Gilfry. (Meanwhile, Mr. Gunn will continue his exploration of the esoteric Blusenrolle fach by role-debuting Eugene Onegin in Cincinnati.)
La Cieca is delighted to throw out the first ball or lift her baton or whatever it is one does to launch a discussion, which in this case is on the topic of that most quintessential of all opera novels, Mawrdew Czgowchwz—though she does insist on prefacing anything she says with the caveat that she’s…
The Met’s press office has just announced that “Stephen Wadsworth will direct the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, replacing Peter Stein, who has withdrawn for personal reasons.”
Who knows better than Peter Gelb that “into each life some rain must fall” — especially now, when the Met honcho may have to replace a director who was the rock upon which was built the upcoming season?
Jane Eaglen (remember her?) reveals a fundamental secret of the art of song. [San Francisco Chronicle]
“Hans Sachs was a shoe- / Maker and a Wainwright too?”
In light of all the recent discussion of Norma, La Cieca thought it would be interesting to listen to a great (and controversial) Druidess of the recent past.
We may have a contender in the category of Most Overdone Camp Diva Crossover Hair Extension.
“Three-time Grammy winner Rene’e Fleming is beloved by classical and opera fans around the world [ça va sans dire], but the superstar soprano has also earned the admiration of a new generation of singers and songwriters …. “
“Mexikanische Startenor” Rolando Villazón has canceled tomorrow night’s performance of L’elisir d’amore at the Munich Opera Festival due to an “acute infection.” Speaking of “a cute,” substituting in the role of Nemorino will be puppylicious Pavol Breslik. [via]
French actress and Bond Girl Eva Green (Casino Royale) is in talks to star as Maria Callas in a biopic from Italy’s DeAngelis Group (DAP) and British producer partner Future Films. The project will be co-produced by Swarovski, “whose bling was often worn by the iconic opera star on stage and off.” [Hollywood Reporter]
Halfway through the overture to L’italiana in Algeri a pin-up cartoon of our Isabella, Jennifer Larmore, slowly slides up and down a pole, setting the tone for the whole opera. Cartoonish is indeed the first adjective that springs to my mind when trying to describe this 1998 production of Rossini’s opera buffa from the Opéra…
As Strephon so tactfully intimated, last week’s Regie quiz did indeed represent a “domestic and intimate” production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller, as staged by Stephen Medcalf for the Buxton Festival. (The performance of the name part by Susannah Glanville sent veteran operagoers’ tongues to wagging “Not since Fretwell!”)
“James Levine has served the Boston Symphony Orchestra honorably, and deserves to continue as music director if his health bounces back quickly. If he’s not able to return to full strength in a reasonable time, he should resign and allow the orchestra to search openly for a replacement.” [Boston Globe]
What a concept, or La Cieca should say what a concept! This is Regie at its finest and most boldly satirical, genius that makes Graham Vick look like two-day-old steak frites. For this production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, the director (unnamed, alas in the YouTube clip below) utilizes the cinematic convention of the flash-forward in…
I guess we all should have seen this one coming.
The pickings are slimmish this week for online listening Saturday afternoon, but those of you who are up and around by 11 AM may want to tune in to Die Meistersinger on BBC Radio 3, a concert performance by the Welsh National Opera starring Bryn Terfel. (Though I warn you: per the the Beeb’s website,…
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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