That day we all knew eventually would come did come, in the winter of 2001, when the final issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine was mailed out to the cher public, such as they were at the time.
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The very first words in this issue are “Renata Scotto will return to the American operatic stage in the 2001 season!”
The celebrated “lost” issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine (now found, thanks to the avid cataloging of Indiana Loiterer III.)
“Richard Bernstein is a very good-looking guy, even with his clothes on.”
“La Cieca cannot imagine it is much fun to sing ‘Dove sono’ when you’re suffering a fresh case of the Reno jumpy-wumps.”
In Vintage Issue #32: How that opening night of Lohengrin might have gone; La Cieca on La Gran Scena…
When handing out the goodies, the gods weren’t stingy with Shirley Verrett. Few opera singers were as prodigiously gifted as Verrett: the perfect amalgam of Kunst and Stimm housed in a frame of voluptuous allure. In addition to an instrument of stunning natural beauty and easy range, Verrett displayed superior musicianship, dramatic intelligence and searing…
The Met’s 1979 telecast of Mahagonny exposed one of the lesser-known factors contributing to the demise of disco: the global supply of eye shadow, rouge and lip gloss was exhausted for the next decade by a cast featuring Klara Barlow, Louise Wohlafka, Nedda Casei, Gwynn Cornell, Joann Grillo and Isola Jones—and stilettos, garter belts and…
A long-awaited DVD from the Met documents one of the great “42nd Street” episodes in operatic history: on December 20, 1980, a largely unknown Julia Migenes (or Migenes-Johnson, as she was called in those days) stepped in on a few hours’ notice for an ailing Teresa Stratas as the anti-heroine of Berg’s Lulu. A prodigiously…
Better loosen up those typing fingers, cher public, because La Cieca is bringing you another of her notorious online chats. On Monday, September 22 beginning at 6:30 PM EDT, La Cieca will present Opening Night in Exile, a chat celebrating the the broadcast of the Met’s 2008 opening night starring Renée Fleming, the diva and…
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