Mostly mediocre moments
In the words of Stella Maria Krazelberg von und zu Brabant, “Renata was robbed!” La Cieca offers a quick reminder of some moments that should have made the Met’s “Top 15” list.
Video
Do you come from a land down under?
Here’s Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Don Giovanni at Opera Australia. La Cieca is, for once, speechless. UPDATE: Imagine La Cieca’s surprise when she found out there is already video of this production!
Moon, June, Spoon
In an unreleased track from Cecilia Bartoli‘s new “Maria” CD (and you know La Cieca dotes on inédits!), the singer/musicologess performs in English! The song is “Yon moon o’er the mountains,” which, as you all know, is one of the hit tunes from Balfe’s The Maid of Artois. In less aesthetically pleasing news, a photo […]
"Today is dedicated to Uranus"
You know that Vivaldi opera everyone’s been talking about? (Yeah, La Cieca realizes that sentence looks absurd, but read on.) Anyway, here’s the already infamous nude scene for tenor Zachary Stains from the opera Ercole sul Termodonte, or, as it is more generally known in this country, “Hercules versus the Dental Hygienist.” (NSFW, obviously, since […]
Gaia, isolata, bianca
Legendary opera diva Anna Moffo spreads her wings in a straight film role — but as a gay character. La Moffo plays the lesbian “Lia” in Das Mädchen Julius. The film concerns the heroine Jules (a girl with a boy’s name) who, according to the plot synopsis, as a teenager had a lesbian experience with […]
And all he said was "woof"
In a controversial performance (condemned by Stephen Colbert, praised by Andrew Sullivan), bass-bearitone Kurt Rydl grrrrowls the role of Hagen. Legendary diva Rosa Ponselle was so impressed by this Götterdämmerung that she dedicated an encore song to Herr Rydl. The (ahem) versatile basso replied with a video tribute to Nancy Sinatra:
Wheels within wheels
This is why drag was invented. The artistes are James Bondage and Bella ToDyeFor.
Perché non ho del talento?
This performance of the “alternative” entrance aria from Lucia di Lammermoor illustrates why the road not taken probably wasn’t such a good idea in the first place. Note, too, how the technical quality of the video production so aptly complements the efforts of the artiste.
Lookism? Again?
Yet another rehash of the great voice vs. waistline debate, this time in the Chicago Daily Herald. Nicole Cabell laments the scarcity of European gyms, while “hunken-tenor” Joseph Kaiser plants his feet firmly on both sides of the fence by declaring, “Essentially if you can be healthy about being healthy, that’s the balance to find […]
Robert Goulet, 1933-2007
The Broadway baritone, star of Camelot, died yesterday at the age of 73. Goulet won a Tony Award for for the 1968 Kander and Ebb musical The Happy Time, and most recently appeared on Broadway as Georges in the 2004 revival of La Cage aux Folles. An obituary and appreciation of the performer can be […]
The solution to the "Ernani involami" quiz
All right, cher public, now that the competion is closed, La Cieca will reveal the 20 singers performing the composite “Ernani involami.” First, you might want to listen to the original clip one more time. Now, ready? Here are our 20 divas, pictured and named. Just click on the YouTube clip to play.
Now this is more like it
Totally pulled together. Class act. Doing what comes naturally. Well played! Call it what you will, but, fair is fair: this is great stuff.
Put our service to the test
The unsinkable (and apparently unflappable) Birgit Nilsson sings what turns out to be an aria from Verdi’s Macbeth — despite makeup design from Valley of the Dolls and a costume recycled from the “Be Our Guest” number in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. La Nilsson’s performance (as awesome as it is!) is only an opening […]
Hunkentenor manqué
In the words of the immortal Leonard Pinth-Garnell, “Monumentally ill-advised!” UPDATE: The video has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been removed from YouTube. There are a few stills, however, on the tenor’s website. By the way, if you think the costume looks familiar, that’s because you’ve seen it before.
The names he used to call me!
Aided and abetted by Noel Coward, the scintillating Mary Martin crosses over into operatic territory.
You Shouldn’t Be Dancing
Ah, yes, of course La Cieca remembers the 1970s, or bits and pieces of it, anyway. Your doyenne fondly recalls that everyone spent that whole decade coked up and ‘luded out, and she’s in no position to condemn anyone. But even the hedonistic, anything-goes ’70s Zeitgeist cannot explain the following video; specifically, why Franco Bonisolli […]
Marked Down Woman
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend and role model Charles Busch returns to the boards this month in the New York stage premiere of one of his greatest film triumphs, the eponymous matriarch of Die Mommie Die. Busch (who is of course the author as well) stars as Angela Arden, a legendary screen chanteuse bedeviled […]
Nel l’occhio tuo profondo io lego il mio destin
There’s more (including a trailer for an upcoming Lego Tosca) on YouTube.
Anything I can do, she can do better
Multifaceted Aprile Millo has branched out into blogging, and her site, operavision, includes some of the smartest online opera commentary La Cieca has seen. Currently she’s expounding on Opera in 3D, a fascinating article if you can tear yourself away from the image of Renata Tebaldi shaking hands with an astronaut! La Millo naturally has […]
Bella è quell’ira, o vergine!
Wow! Who is this Odabella? As several of you quick-witted commenters have divined, the mystery Odabella is none other than Eva Marton, who performed in Verdi’s Attila in 1972. As you watch this YouTube clip of the entire aria, thrill to la Marton’s precocious mastery of diva body language!
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
