I’m not sure who I find more annoying – the partisans who vigorously defend Luc Bondy‘s production of Tosca at the Met or those who decry it. As Bondy’s production replaces one of the Met’s signature offerings, both groups have seized on this event as a watershed event in the history of opera in America…
Anthony Tommasini‘s Sunday Times think piece about opera direction (fetchingly adorned with the Susannesque headline “Halfway Won’t Do”) is online now. La Cieca thinks TT’s heart is in the right place (and of course she’s still all aglow after the Babs interview), so she’s going to stay mum about that Herbert Wernicke production of Die…
UPDATE: James Levine‘s on-again, off-again back problem is on again. He’s out of tonight’s Tosca, Joseph Colaneri deputizing. Carlo Guelfi sings Scarpia tonight because of the continuing indisposition of George Gagnidze. Meanwhile, James Levine‘s back seems to be feeling better.
Dear Alex Ross (though he sure as hell didn’t like it) is not quite ready to join the “sky is falling” chorus. Opera being a delightfully paradoxical medium, this whole debacle left me in an upbeat mood. The Met is refusing to repeat itself and is seeking, by trial and error, a new theatrical identity.…
More about That Night from the Boo York Times.
As newpapers across the nation decimate their staffs, as arts writers beg to write free for blogs, and as (apparently) nothing else happens in the world today, Alan Daniel J. Wakin is still answering Franco Zeffirelli’s drunk-dials. Hilarious takeaway: Frengo metaphorically compares the fag-specific metier of operatic stage direction to heterosexual marriage. [NYT]
Says a spectator at last night’s Tosca: [The final leap] “did seem poorly timed– Mattila ran to the top in slow motion, switch to stunt double appeared obvious. No boos followed– unenthusiastic applause instead. Neither Scarpia took any bow.”
See the new posting that will appear at 5:45 pm entitled “Overture! Light the Lights!” — this will be your official one-stop location for tonight’s chat during the Met’s Tosca.
An old clip, but worth repeating: Gina Lollobrigida plays Lina Cavalieri plays Floria Tosca in La donna più bella del mondo.
A video glimpse of the new Tosca, from the New York Times. The wig needs some major cleaning up.
[SPOILER ALERT! MAY CONTAIN DETAILS YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE BEFORE YOU ATTEND THE PRODUCTION!]
A hint of what George Gagnidze‘s Scarpia may sound like. Tre sbirri…
Looks like dear Liz Smith was prescient: yes, there is now a Sarah Palin opera! [Boston Herald]
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
