The sound of silence
Die Schweigsame Frau, in a Munich performance featuring Kurt Moll, Julie Kaufmann, Francisco Araiza and Wolfgang Rauch conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch.
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Of dreamless ease fled she
Born on this day in 1916 actress Irene Worth.
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).
Shoot your shot
Director R.B. Schlather deftly walks a porous boundary, casting this primordial paroxysm of Germanness as a dialogue between its naïve and moralistic narrative with its outsized legacy.
“Pain and danger and fear”
Happy 90th birthday to actress Prunella Scales.
Dream on
The second act of Dream of the Red Chamber reached the apex and provided the audience with soul-stirring fulfillment.
“I hated the whole idea of being an actress”
Born on this day in 1921 actress and singer Judy Holliday.
A real vibrancy
Your favorite box set-aholic here completely missed the release last August of Giuseppe Di Stefano – Complete Decca Recordings in honor of the great tenor’s centenary.
Consistently enthralling
To conclude its triumphant season, last week the Met Orchestra performed its annual Carnegie Hall concerts under music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and once again performed superbly.
On the make
Born on this day in 1911 actress Gail Patrick.
How high
Born on this day in 1912 soprano Virginia MacWatters.
Turandot
A new production of Puccini’s lyric drama is conducted by Zubin Mehta and directed by Philipp Stölzl.
The night is romantic and I am alone
Born on this day in 1903 actress and soprano Jeanette MacDonald.
Al fresco
On this day in 1967 Barbra Streisand performed A Happening in Central Park.
The Italian job
Trove Thursday presents a delightful pirate recording from the 1983 Pesaro Festival of Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia with a cast headed by three Americans—Trove fav Lella Cuberli, Samuel Ramey and David Kuebler—along with Alessandro Corbelli and Luigi De Corato, conducted by Donato Renzetti.
Song of my homeland
Born on this day in 1910 actress Ilona Massey.
“Why do people have to love people anyway?”
On this day in 1960 the film The Apartment premiered in New York City.
Thousand yard stair
On this day the revue New Faces of 1956 opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, featuring an eclectic collection of talent including Maggie Smith, Jane Connell, Tiger Haynes, John Reardon, Bill McCutcheon and Inga Swenson.
I suspect you’re a treasure
Born on this day in 1910 comic actress Mary Wickes.
Intention
Born on this day in 1919 handmaiden of Melpomene Uta Hagen.
Thaïs
Ermonela Jaho and Ludovic Tézier are featured in a performance recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées à Paris.
Sing happy
On this day in 1965, LIza Minnelli made her Broadway debut at the age of 19 in Flora, the Red Menace.
Romeo and Gilda
The winners of the evening were the composer Riccardo Zandonai and Teatro Grattacielo which pulled off a near-impossible feat with success.
Either less or more
An elegantly streamlined production of Into the Woods now on stage at Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre makes the best case for the show I’ve yet seen