“I am myself a Queen”
One Met casualty this spring is Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda so Trove Thursday fills in with a triple-header.
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Hello, Gorgeous!
On this day in 1964 the Jule Styne–Bob Merrill musical Funny Girl opened at the Winter Garden Theatre, to run 1,348 performances.
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).
Die Walküre
The second part of the Ring as documented at the Met in 2011.
Iris
Mascagni’s bizarre japonaiserie opera features Sonya Yoncheva.
Das Rheingold
Revisit our old friend The Machine from the Met’s early teens Ring cycle, beginning tonight with Das Rheingold.
Vier Letzte Lieder
My introduction to the work was the Angel LP from 1964 with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and George Szell… and yes, I’m aware that it’s a performance that tends to divide rooms.
La Gioconda
A midcentury Met-adjacent cast belts out Ponchielli.
New York’s first diva
Born on this day in 1808 soprano Maria Malibran.
Tristan und Isolde
Wagner’s music drama in the Met’s 2016 production.
Tutto sprezzo che d’Ernani
When La Cieca reached out asking for content, I resurrected a hoary standby—the vocal ID quiz.
Tosca
This afternoon, a 2019 Puccini performance featuring Sondra Radvanovsky, Piotr Beczala and Thomas Hampson.
Sisters were doing it for themselves
What we see here from Strasberg is frustratingly literal and drably conventional—it looks to me like he’s channeling a lot of received wisdom about how Chekhov should be staged and bringing almost nothing of his own to the process.
Small victory
On this day in 1977 soprano Ileana Cotrubas made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimì.
Eugene Onegin
Another classic Met Live in HD performance, starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev.
Semiramide
A 1983 concert performance at Carnegie Hall with June Anderson, Marilyn Horne and Samuel Ramey; Henry Lewis conducting.
(Not) getting reviewed today
Today is Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday, and it’s not going as planned.
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen
Born on this day in 1912 soprano Martha Mödl.
Lucia di Lammermoor
Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala head the cast in this 2009 performance.
Going for the gold
On this day in 2003 the legendary Chita Rivera celebrated 50 years as a Broadway performer playing the role of Liliane LeFleur in a Broadway revival of the musical Nine.
La Cenerentola
A leap back in time to 2014 for a Met broadcast of La Cenerentola.
Die Hochzeit des Figaro
It was love at first hearing. The music was glorious, the conducting bouncy and pointed, and the singers sure sounded terrific to me.
Médée
Cherubini’s tragedy as performed at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.