Now, this, my dears, is how you do PR! Don Juan: Everyone’s Favorite Bad BoyTuesday, October 27, 7:00-8:30pmThe Museum of Sex233 5th AvenueNew York, NY 10016 New York City Opera’s own Don Juan (bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch) in its new production of Don Giovanni, director Christopher Alden, and sexlogist Esther Perel (Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic…

on October 26, 2009 at 12:37 PM

Bayreuth scion Katharina Wagner treats her choristers well. When they complained about getting soaked with stage blood, she bought them all latex panties at sex shop Beate Uhse. [n-tv]

on October 26, 2009 at 10:57 AM

From the Orders Report for La Cieca’s Amazon store for October 23, 2009: And a reminder, cher public, even though La Cieca is coming to you from an alien server until tomorrow, the Little Shop of Arias is still in business.

on October 24, 2009 at 7:27 PM

“Gloria Davy, Claudia Muzio, Renata Scotto and Lynne Strow Piccolo.”

on October 24, 2009 at 1:12 AM

Tonight’s chat during the season premiere of La Damnation de Faust from the Met begins at 8:15 pm. Sirius/XM RealNetworks from metopera.org

on October 23, 2009 at 7:10 PM

“…at the height of her crippling attacks of stage fright, her vocal coach had to physically push her on to the stage of the Met’s new production of The Marriage of Figaro, in which she was singing with Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli.” [Times Online]

on October 23, 2009 at 6:23 PM

I’m sure you’ve all read by now about the “famous Argentine opera diva” (who, by the way, nobody has ever heard of, so she’s not famous; and she doesn’t sing opera, so she’s not an opera diva; and at the rate she’s going, she’s probably going to turn out to be from Bolivia)… but, anyway,…

on October 23, 2009 at 10:46 AM

The film of that awful play Master Class will begin lensing next week in Detroit. Faye Dunaway directs and stars as Maria Callas. [Detroit Free Press] UPDATE: Edited to include this much funnier photo suggesting La Dunaway has decided to play the Audra McDonald part.

on October 23, 2009 at 8:18 AM

Takeaway from this morning’s press conference unveiling the He Who Must Not Be Named Theatre at Lincoln Center: the Kellogg-era sound enhancement system has been “eliminated.” [via NYT]

on October 22, 2009 at 12:58 PM

Tyne Daly will star as Maria Callas in that awful play Master Class, which La Cieca has to say strikes her as somewhat counterintutive. And while we’re on the subject, why hasn’t somebody written a play about Eileen Farrell? [theatermania.com]

on October 22, 2009 at 12:28 PM

Renée Fleming reveals the horrible truth of what actually happened back in 1987 (and singing Tamu-Tamu wasn’t even the worst of it), but snaps back to teach a very fine master class indeed. [NYP]

on October 22, 2009 at 7:43 AM

Just for the sake of everyone’s convenience, cher public, La Cieca asks you to identify yourself with your comments. You don’t need to log in to the site; just use the”Name/URL” option in “Choose an identity” section of the comments form. Again, this is a temporary measure until we get back to good old parterre.com.

on October 21, 2009 at 11:21 PM

So, you remember Americans for Prosperity (i.e., David H. Koch, i.e., the guy the NYCO is honoring on November 5)? So, guess which issue they’re on the wrong side of this time? Health care reform? Well, yes, they’re still trying to block health care reform, but they’re multitasking, too. Now AFP is throwing some of…

on October 21, 2009 at 6:58 PM

Olga Borodina goes on tonight in Aida at the Met, subbing for an ailing Dolora Zajick. It’s on Sirius, for those of you who feel like chatting.

on October 21, 2009 at 4:05 PM

“Lafayette’s frothy delivery delights at Kennedy Center” [Washington Post]

on October 21, 2009 at 1:59 PM

Welcome, cher public, to the temporary home of parterre box during our move to a new server. Please continue commenting and otherwise shmoozing here through the evening of Saturday the 24th.

on October 21, 2009 at 9:30 AM

The Nico Muhly commentary may continue here.

on October 21, 2009 at 8:55 AM

The Metropolitan Opera commission Daedalus by Osvaldo Golijov seems to have slipped through the cracks, for now at least. According to the virtually always accurate Met Futures by Brad Wilber, the premiere of the work, planned for the 2011-2012 season, is not going to take place.

on October 16, 2009 at 4:10 PM

La Cieca sat in on the “Cognitive Theater” discussion tonight at the New York Public Library, and the main impression she came away with is that Patrice Chéreau is a very quiet, soft-spoken man who happens to be a genius. (She was expecting something more fiery, but like many of the great divas, it seems…

on October 08, 2009 at 11:12 PM

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]

on September 25, 2009 at 3:53 PM

Unlike the directors of some recent Metropolitan Opera stagings, Julie Taymor received an enthusiastic ovation when her production of Mozart’s “Zauberflöte” had its debut at the house in 2004. If the Metropolitan Opera continues on its current path, Jonathan Miller’s 1998 production of Mozart’s “Nozze di Figaro” will be succeeded either by a version couched…

on September 24, 2009 at 7:54 PM

“Tosca gashes the portrait of the Magdalene (with a breast bared)…” Also: damn those bloggers! Damn them!  [NYT]

on September 22, 2009 at 7:08 PM

A willfully ignorant old queen turns up his nose at something he hasn’t seen: “idiotic…. third rate.” In other news, dog bites man. [NYT]

on September 21, 2009 at 11:21 PM

Danielle de Niese has emailed blog A Liberal’s Libretto insisting that she was misquoted on her now-notorious “elephants” one-liner.

on September 21, 2009 at 4:05 PM