The most perfectly developed of modern playwrights if nothing else
On this day in 1964 Joe Orton‘s Entertaining Mr Sloane premiered in London.
Recent Stories
Double treble
“Trove Thursday” presents two star countertenors in a beguiling all-Purcell program from 2010.
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).
Recline yourself, resign yourself, you’re through
On this day in 1955 the musical Damn Yankees opened at the 46th Street Theatre, to run 1,019 performances.
Special guest Heldenreizerin
WNO’s first complete Ring Cycle continued Monday evening with a revamped version of the Die Walküre first seen at the Kennedy Center in 2007.
A hole in the Hedda
“Hopper’s Wife turned out to be the most unpleasant piece as I’ve heard since NYCO’s notorious fiasco The Dreyfus Affair, two decades ago.”
Sweet bird of youth
Happy 86th birthday soprano Roberta Peters.
Burden of gilt
Happily, this Rheingold, which returned to the Kennedy Center Saturday night to open the first of three complete cycles, has been shorn of its clumsier gestures.
Paranorma activity
“Due to Anna Netrebko’s recent decision not to add the title role in Bellini’s Norma to her repertory…”
Naked and afraid
Which opera director’s new position seems to have gone to his head? At a recent round of auditions, he reportedly encouraged the singers to disrobe.
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!
Please god, please, don’t let me be normal!
On this day in 1960 Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt‘s The Fantasticks premiered at Greenwich Village’s Sullivan Street Playhouse.
Chat: Otello
Welcome, cher public, to the real-time chat for this evening’s Met broadcast of Otello, starting at 7:30 PM.
Another man’s Persian
The seventeenth-century works of Francisco Cavalli may be easier for modern audiences to accept.
And now a word from our sponsor
La Cieca celebrates parterre box’s advertisers for the month of May 2016: Carnegie Hall, the George London Foundation and Opera Orchestra of New York.
The wimple life
Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites essentially had three world premieres in 1957: first at La Scala (sung in Italian), then Paris (sung in French), followed by San Francisco (sung in English).
Nun zäume dein Ross
Christine Goerke will sing the role of Brünnhilde in the Monday, May 2 performance of The Valkyrie at WNO.
A strange foreign city
On this day in 1968 the revue New Faces of 1968 opened at the Booth Theatre to run 52 performances.
One million dollars!
“The Met: Live in HD concluded its tenth anniversary season Saturday with a live transmission of Patrice Chéreau’s acclaimed production of Elektra, with an estimated attendance of 48,000 in North America earning a gross of $1,037,000.”
Spring housekeeping
La Cieca would like to ask that you faithful readers take a moment to post your favorite parterre stories on social media.
The great lady issues a statement
The most-read stories in April were mostly news, with a little gossip thrown in.
A crazy May Day
On this day in 1786 Le nozze di Figaro premiered in Vienna.
Chat: Elektra
La Cieca (not pictured) welcomes you, cher public, to the real-time chat for this afternoon’s Met broadcast (and HD!) of Elektra, starting at 12:55 PM.
Desert menu
On this day in 1803 the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.
