Ah, six long lazy weeks with nothing to do but relax and guess the most recent Regie puzzler—which, La Cieca blushes to admit, dates all the way back on July 24!—and yet only Freniac was 100% on the right track. The opera was indeed Mitridate, re di Ponto, as staged for the Munich Opera Festival by…
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“…whenever he was joined by the baritone Simon Keenlyside, who sang Rodrigo, the Marquis of Posa and Carlo’s devoted friend, Mr. Alagna opened up in every way.” Well, wouldn’t you? [NYT]
Cher public, if you plan to see the Met’s production of From the House of the Dead (and you might as well know that she expects you move heaven and earth to do so!), La Cieca urges and entreats that you avoid reading Anthony Tommasini‘s review of the production in tomorrow’s New York Times.
George Steel manages to hold out for 140 words before dropping the inevitable name in this month’s issue of Edible Manhattan. The Man of Steel continues: The places that are famous tend not to be good. People are looking for an experience of authenticity and not really using their mouth. La Cieca should note that…
Ildebrando d’Arcangelo and Andrea Concetti get chummy in this scene from Don Giovanni. [via Barihunks]
An entirely new plot element in a Shakespeare text? The story turns on a dispute between Oberon, the manipulative king of the fairies, and Tytania, his willful wife, over the guardianship of a changeling boy. Oberon badly wants that boy as his henchman. But Tytania, who has seen the brutal way her husband sometimes bullies…
Scott Cantrell has a brand new metaphor, and he’s not going to let it slip through his fingers. “Daniel Okulitch is hardly the libretto’s ‘scrawny little S.O.B.’ But, with a warmly oiled bass-baritone, he captures Joseph’s tenderness toward his mother as surely as his hostility and fear.” “Nathan Gunn is the cast’s standout, an Alec…
Liza’s main man Paulo Szot has some interesting and rather bold (if La Cieca may say so) opinions about the character of Leporello in today’s New York Times: “Don Giovanni needs him for everything: butt sex, to give him food, to give him drink, to share his feelings with.” (The article, fetchingly entitled “The Great…
Our Own JJ is shown here “wrangling” the dancers for his friend Dorothy Bishop‘s cabaret show last night at Splash. There were supposed to be only two dancers, which is more than enough to fill the very small Splash window ledge of a stage. But three showed up: E.J., Alain and Michele. La Bishop is…
“Gypsy camp! Almost a dance outright! Sweaty musclemen! Rhythmically coordinated swings! Throbbing … impetuous … distinctive … alluring … dusky … creamy … robust … restless … full of yearning … hard-edged!” [After Dark NYT]
“Anthony Tommasini, the chief classical music critic of The New York Times, is answering questions from readers Feb. 9-13, 2009. Questions may be e-mailed to [email protected].” [NYT]
A new spy debuts in La Cieca’s service, reporting from the first night of WNO’s Lucrezia Borgia: Overall, I thought the opera was worth the price of attendance. The costumes of the main characters looked like something from Star Trek. Renée Fleming‘s hair looked like Tina Turner circa 1984. Fleming was impressive, especially in many…
“There is nothing like young performers to refresh older pieces.” [NYT]
“When Mr. Tetzlaff emerged on the scene in his early 20s (still trim, boyish and energetic at 42, he does not look much older)…” [NYT]
Need you ask who discusses the subject of nudity in opera (among other performing arts) in today’s Times? [W]hen nudity seems called for and natural, it can lend disarming humanity to a drama. There was, for example, Richard Greenberg’s “Take Me Out,†at the Public Theater in 2002, about a superstar baseball player who reveals…
“…the conception of Brundle, at least as portrayed by Mr. Okulitch, has poignant allure. Mr. Goldblum was a mad, wiry scientist with raging eyes. The young, boyishly handsome Mr. Okulitch makes Brundle more of a dreamer, awkward and soulful, who has lived in near seclusion, building his telepods and fantasizing about transporting himself, transcending the…
The ideal match of subject matter to critic: the role debut of Teddy Tahu Rhodes in Billy Budd, as reviewed by Anthony Tommasini. (“On being pressed into service, Billy is made a foretop man, and repeatedly throughout the performance Mr. Rhodes climbs up and down rigging with abandon, sometimes using only his arms.”)
Well, actually, yes, now you do. The New York Times is no longer the only major metropolitan daily whose music critic drools all over opera singers of the masculine persuasion. La Cieca is delighted to introduce the verbal stylings of David Mermelstein, who apparently is that gay man who has heretofore been trapped inside the…
Calixo Bieito? Over! Peter Konwitschny? Yesterday’s news! And David McVicar? Head for the showers! The new home of cutting-edge Regie is in little Seattle, my god, and who could have devised so utterly innovative and openly homoerotic take on Salome? Our Own Wenarto, of course!
La Cieca has just learned more details about the Royal Opera’s Naked Executioner Guy and she’s sure that we all want to stay right on top of the story. Naked Executioner Guys’s real name is Duncan Meadows. He is a busker who, like so many in the busking biz, does the bulk of his bulking…
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