Return to Oz
Teddy Tahu Rhodes stars in the first Australian production of Dead Man Walking. To which La Cieca can only respond, “Nathan Who?”
Recent Stories
Oh! che volo d’augelli
La Cieca’s little bird sang true: yesterday it was announced that James Robinson will be the new Artistic Director of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Moving on to another story that you heard first from your doyenne, ze bad-boy of ze opéra Gérard Mortier spilled his plans for his first NYCO season yesterday. In 2009-2010 […]
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).
"She runs upstage screaming and then sits on the stairs laughing maniacally" is the new "weeping bitterly, she consents to the horrible bargain"
That’s a bit of the description of Natalie Dessay‘s Lucia mad scene, as dress-rehearsed at the Met earlier today and reported by La Cieca’s spy. The complete report (including SPOILERS!) follows: I’m sure some people will be up in arms over the production. It is set in the mid-19th century. The costumes are decent. Mariusz […]
Sans amis gais
A full account of “A Tribute to Beverly Sills” may be found at PlaybillArts though, curiously, the “photo journal” (from which this image was yoincked, and which includes a look at la Netrebko’s more tasteful garb) seems to have vanished into the ether.
Watch out boy she’ll chew you up
“Jossie is a wild girl,” says a former MetOpera colleague. “You never knew what gutter you’d wake up in when you went out with her.” …. As her career began to escalate, so did, by many accounts, her outlandish party lifestyle and behavior. Like Carmen, Pérez moved fluidly from man to man, boasting to colleagues […]
Pregnant with meaning
Expect yet another major cast change at the Met in the next couple of weeks. La Cieca won’t spill the details at the moment, but let’s just say that the problem is a soprano who got knocked up before the marriage!
Man of letters
Our Own John Yohalem is the subject of a quizzical posting on dishy gawker.com today. Dear John (whom La Cieca likes to call “The Ragin’ Pagan”) wrote a letter to the New Yorker in response to a mention in an article on Asperger’s syndrome. It seems that author Tim Page recalled John’s erstwhile(?) habit of […]
Assoluta
Sunday, September 16 will mark the 30th anniversary of the death of that most significant of all opera singers, Maria Callas. In honor of the diva, Unnatural Acts of Opera presents one of her rare New York performances, a concert version of Il pirata as performed at Carnegie Hall on January 27, 1959. Unnatural Acts […]
Tony forgot to take the cluephone off "mute" (again)
“And the charismatic, powerful baritone Gregg Baker, a compelling Robert, seems on the brink of a big career. ” New York Times, September 13, 2007. Gregg Baker made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1985, creating the role of Crown in the company premiere of Porgy and Bess. (“Gregg Baker, as the villain Crown, looked magnificent, […]
No answer?
Curiously, the response to La Cieca’s challenge to identify the ten “wrong numbers” she reached whilst trying to phone Milton Host has evoked something less than the usual excitement associated with an Unnatural Acts of Opera quiz. As such, your doyenne will make it easy for you by making available an excerpt from the Vestale […]
Flash Mab
The Met’s star-crossed revival of Roméo et Juliette has just hit another bump. Nathan Gunn, announced for Mercutio, has dropped out of the September and October performances of the opera due to illness. Jumping in will be baryhunque Stéphane Degout, who performed Mercutio in this production back in 2005. Gunn is still on the cast […]
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 […]
"TBA" about to be announced?
A source close to the Met whispers to La Cieca that Maria Guleghina will step into the TBA performances of Macbeth in January 2008 including the HD transmission on the 12th. Your doyenne also hears that la Guleghina has been approached to take over the May performances of the Verdi thriller, currently announced for Andrea […]
While You Were Out
Your doyenne La Cieca goes it alone on the current podcast of Unnatural Acts of Opera, doing her best to introduce the third act of Spontini’s La Vestale starring Leyla Gencer. Co-host Milton Host, it seems, was unable to reach the studio, and so La Cieca attempted to contact him via the telephone. An unfortunate […]
Photo finish at Lincoln Center
The results of the “Must See” poll are in, and La Cieca is declaring it too close to call and therefore a tie: Vanessa at the New York City Opera and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Met are now officially the hottest tickets of the fall 2007 season. The complete results of the utterly unscientific […]
A "premiere" tribute
La Cieca’s old, old, old friend Ed Rosen of Premiere Opera writes: In tribute and loving memory to Luciano Pavarotti, I am proud and humbled to present a complete recital given relatively early in Pavarotti’s career, 1973. He had just finished the first big step toward super stardom by triumphing as Tonio in Donizetti’s Fille […]
What’s your "Must See"?
Voting is now closed on this poll. The results may surprise you!
Not a comeback, a return!
Fans of red-haired three-named sopranos d’un certain âge will rejoice to hear that at least a couple of the mainstays of the Volpe Era have been asked back to the Met under the Gelb Aegis. (And after all that naughty gossip about firings and buyings-out! Who ever heard of such a thing?) Anyway, not to […]
Luciano Pavarotti 1935 – 2007
Tribute to Pavarotti at Unnatural Acts of Opera
Eisen zu pumpen
Here’s the original (or, La Cieca supposes she should say, Das Original) of that endlessly-forwarded and endlessly-discussed article about alleged “doping” in the opera world, as published in Die Presse. Now, what catches La Cieca’s eye here is the description of the beta blocker whistleblower quoted in the article: “Der Tenor und Bodybuilder Endrik Wottrich.” […]
On the cheap
Those of the cher public who want to attend opera on the cheap or who just want to get a jump on the season should check out New York City Opera’s Opera for All program. The NYCO is offering three performances this week with all tickets priced at $25: a gala concert on September 6, […]