December 4, 2000: Our editor James Jorden is interviewed in the New York Post.

More artistic vandalism, it seems, is on the way from Decca. It seems they are planning a whole series of complete opera recordings starring a certain physically-challenged tenorino. But here's the problem: Decca already had signed contracts for these projects with another tenor (who, by the way, has recently sung with great success in New York). The solution: a reported $5 million payoff to the real opera singer to clear the way for the pretender.

Following up on her big success in the Palm Beach Ballo in maschera, Aprile Millo is looking forward to increasing operatic activity, including Desdemona in Baltimore. Her collaborator in the recent Connecticut Grand Opera Tosca, Ira Siff is now in demand as a stage director, including, we hear, Lucia di Lammermoor with Sarasota Opera next season.

Renata Scotto returned to staged opera in the United States on November 11, her first Klytemnestra in Elektra with the Baltimore Opera. It was an event, and the greatest thrill La Cieca has had all year to see my favorite artist of all time back where she belongs. Was it a golden age Scotto performance? La Cieca will say, well, a qualified yes. A great deal of the role of Klytemnestra lies in what is currently the weakest part of Scotto's voice, i.e., the area from about F to B-flat in the lower-middle register. Some of the singing in that range really did need to be taken on faith, it is true. But, that said, I would have to compare Scotto's portrayal to Rysanek's for dramatic truth and musical communication.

As Ira Siff once remarked, Scotto is at her very best when she is given a lyrical phrase to mold and shape -- that is why her Kundry is so magical. Klytemnestra offers relatively few opportunities for this sort of lyricism, and then (as I noted above) in an uncongenial register. But when she got the chance, Scotto was enchanting ("Das klingt mir so bekannt. Und nur als haett' sich's vergessen, lang und lang.")

Admirers of Ms. Scotto's art will not be surprised to hear that she has a very original take on the dramatic aspect of the role, consistently thought out and always pleasantly surprising. Given the concept of the production (the characters are patients in a mental hospital, circa 1920), Scotto has chosen to play the doomed Queen as a great lady, perhaps a diva, who has suffered a breakdown and now suffers from some species of paranoia.

She is a bundle of nerves from her first entrance and keeps her scene moving with a clenched, breathless sort of manic energy. At times she reminded me of Vivien Leigh in Streetcar Named Desire or Ship of Fools in the way she seemed on the very brink of dissolving in hysterical tears, though never quite losing control. Very much the great lady on the skids, then. Moreover, Scotto the stage technician is still magical. She can take any piece of business and not only make it work, but make it seem like great art. In this case, the director assigns Klytemnestra a scarf of scarlet chiffon at least 30 yards long. Scotto trails this symbolic fabric behind her and slowly reels it in, almost absent-mindedly, until she is festooned in it, as if drenched in blood. Then, with one shudder, she unreels the silk down a staircase where it lands in the hands of Marilyn Zschau (Elektra), who is something of an expert herself at handling scarves onstage.

Unfortunately, the chiffon business is overdone, becoming contrived and stagy, but Scotto is always fascinating to watch as she manipulates the coils, with never a stumble or a fumble. What a pro! On the evidence of Saturday night's performance, my impression is that this role will not remain very long in Scotto's repertoire. But then, on the other hand, the word in Baltimore was that she was a little off-form vocally following some strenuous rehearsal earlier in the week, and we should remember that the very first public reading of a role is not always a singer's final word on that music. At any rate, it was wonderful to hear Scotto live and on stage again here in her adopted artistic homeland, and I look forward to her further adventures.

Which "beautiful" Met diva was seen leaving a Lincoln Center area pub at 3 a.m. on the arm of that crossover crooner? I guess that's to be expected when a man loves a woman!

Suzanne Mentzer and Kristine Jepson will divide up the Met performances of Der Rosenkavalier abandoned by Vesselina Kasarova. Meanwhile, Cheryl Studer is in New York rehearsing for the opening night November 20. (Now, if we could just get someone to fill in for the utterly unengaging Elisabeth Norberg-Shultz ...

Karita Mattila, scoring an enormous success in New York with Fidelio, will return here frequently in coming seasons: Eva in Meistersinger in 2001 (she turned down what would have been her first Tosca in Paris to take this gig), followed by her first local Chrysothemis (opposite Deborah Polaski) and a new production of Salome in 2002-2003. Then she and Ben Heppner reunite for Otello in 2004. Other projects on the diva's agenda: Arabella and (someday) the Marschallin.

Connecticut Grand Opera offers a double dip of diva dementia next month when Ira Siff directs Aprile Millo in Tosca. Says iridescent Ira, "I have no outrageous plans, just want to build strong characters, as we try to do in Gran Scena, but hopefully without the laughs (except Sacristan!)" Performances are November 11 and 12.

The increasingly fragile Cecilia Bartoli canceled her appearance in the Met's Sunday afternoon Pension Fund Gala. Opulent Olga Borodina, fresh from her triumph earlier this week as Carmen, junped in and then jumped back out again when she awoke Sunday morning "with no voice" (per Joe Volpe.) Met underlings spent all day Sunday scrambling to pull something, anything together for Alberto Vilar and the 4000 other people who also happened to be in the auditorium.

When Borodina was scheduled La Cieca decided she should hear this gala and so she made dinner plans for 8 p.m. Then we braved the unseasonable snow flurries and hit the plaza to find the "stars" were Cristina Gallardo-Domas and a couple of house singers. But dinner wasn't for 3 hours yet, so what, La Cieca thought, was there to lose?

In the event, Bryn Terfel was in good voice, singing the Cenerentola straighter than he did a couple of years ago at the Richard Tucker Gala (a good thing) but still hamming the Don Giovanni Catalog Aria mercilessly. Gallardo-Domas looked lovely and sounded pleasant enough in her two brief Puccini numbers, but not what I would exactly call "gala" in New York City. Maybe in Macerata. Thought I doubt even Macerata could tolerate Richard Margison singing "Au fond du temple saint."

This segment included a total of oh, almost half an hour of vocal music, followed by a long intermission. We were given no printed program (the numbers were announced via seat titles), so La Cieca had nothing in particular to look forward to in the second segment. She bolted and ended up renting the Lana Turner/Fernando Lamas version of The Merry Widow and watching that until time to dine. (Frankly, the film's book holds up better than the Met's, and Lamas is easier to understand than Domingo. Further, will all due respect to Ms. von Stade, nobody wears a black strapless dress like Lana!)

But even if all had gone as scheduled, Bartoli's promised contributions didn't look to be particularly interesting: is there anyone alive who hasn't heard her sing "Nacqui all'affano" a dozen times? La Cieca admits that Bartoli and Mr. Terfel would likely have made something memorably revolting of the Cat Duet.

Earlier in the week, Crisis Queen Bartoli crapped out of a very expensive Washington concert literally at the last minute pleading flu. (Say what you like about The Pav's "mishy-mashy" charity gigs with Sting -- at least he shows up for them!) The primary appeal of thr Met's gala was quite frankly the rarity of Bartoli's appearances, which is after all nothing more than a function of her own unreliability and capriciousness. Bottom line: anyone who hires Bartoli again is nuts.

Speaking of nuts, if you're wondering what the Liciathon was like this year, just click here for a sample.

So now it turns out that the "Detroit Aida" is back on: the Pav has decided to sing Radames for Michigan Opera Theater on December 24 (or maybe early in January, depending on who's telling the story). This concert is initiated by Pavarotti himself (promoted by Tibor Rudas) and is widely interpreted as a warmup for his "farewell" series of Aidas at the Met this winter. An "unforeseen schedule conflict" was given as the Pav's reason for bowing out of the originally scheduled November dates.

La Cieca was delighted tonight to hear Alessandra Marc's first official Met Turandot. Alluring Alessandra made her not quite so long-awaited return to the Met two weeks earlier, jumping in for an indisposed Sharon Sweet. After a slightly tentative second act, La Marc thrilled in the third, her rich and voluptuous soprano flooding the theater. (Also of great interest was her romantic and ultra-feminine interpretation of the character, the best-acted Turandot La Cieca has seen since Eva Marton's.)

Meanwhile, the second Turandot performance of the season showcased Adrienne Dugger, who wowed the crowd with her first leading role at the Met (previously she was a Valkyrie in last season's Ring cycle).

The Metropolitan Opera's gala performance featuring Mirella Freni (scheduled for the spring of 2001) has been canceled. A source close to the Met says that Signora Freni heard that the Met was billing the performance as a "farewell gala" and took offense. "Mirella doesn't like the idea of farewells," says our source.

The fame of parterre box continues to spread: here's an interview in the New York Blade.

Lauren Flanigan's controversial financial dealings have made the New York Post's Page Six.

A voice from the Met whispers: that production of La Juive a couple of seasons hence is not a done deal. It seems management is waiting to see how Neil Shicoff's Trovatore turns out before offering the contract.

La Cieca's face is very red: it seems the "news" she's been blabbing about Ruth Ann Swenson canceling her Baby Doe performances in San Francisco was not accurate. According to a flurry of email from the west coast, La Swenson will sing all but the final two performances of the run there. My apologies to Miss Swenson and the lovely people at San Francisco Opera, who La Cieca hears were in quite a tizzy following the dropping of this ill-aimed bombshell earlier this week.

And here's even more gossip from La Cieca!