Our own JJ (not pictured) revisits A Little Night Music, and who should be inhabiting that chateau extravagantly overstaffed but Elaine Stritch? [Capital New York]
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.
“Carmen, opera’s favorite bad girl, is sexy, unpredictable and fascinating — everything the Met’s new production of Bizet’s Carmen is not.” [NYP]
“It’s no spoiler to reveal that, at the end of Hansel and Gretel, the kids defeat the witch. In the Met’s production of Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera, the singers of the title roles steal the show, as well.” [NY POST]
“As for Elektra — one of the most strenuous of opera roles — the Met seemed to have settled for a singer who could survive the ordeal.” [NY Post]
“As the Met chorus raised their voices at the climax of Les Contes d’Hoffmann Thursday night, the tavern setting opened up, revealing … a gray wall. It was a sadly appropriate visual symbol for a glamour-deprived dud of a new production.” [NY Post]
“Since the 1918 premiere of Puccini’s Il Trittico, only two divas at the Met dared to sing the leading roles in all three of its one-act operas: Renata Scotto, a supreme vocal stylist, and Teresa Stratas, a magnetic singing actress. On Friday, Patricia Racette, who is not quite either of these things, took the plunge.”…
Our JJ writes his rave of raves: “If such a thing as perfection in opera is possible, in this House of the Dead, the Met achieves it.” [NY Post]
Our Own JJ interviews the Met’s general manager Peter Gelb in today’s New York Post.
“Beefcake and hamantaschen may seem an odd menu, but in the New York City Opera’s first season in two years, they somehow make a balanced meal.” [NY Post]
Our publisher JJ will grace the airwaves of WNYC this afternoon at 2:00 PM for an appearance on Soundcheck. The topic is that one on everyone’s mind right now, the renascent New York City Opera.
“Since its 1987 premiere, this Franco Zeffirelli production has transitioned from breathtaking to tasteless to endearingly camp.” [JJ in NYP]
La Cieca invites the newly reunited cher public to participate in an archeological dig scavenger hunt puzzle quiz promoting the new “Sacrificium” CD from Cecilia Bartoli. Ready to play? Well, first you have to answer this question: Farinelli’s remains were exhumed in 2006 from this cemetery in Bologna? Most of you surely know the answer,…
“She was pretty but blank onstage back then, but Tuesday night’s opening performance found her too far the other direction, transforming the ironic, moody aristocrat into a Lifetime movie drama queen.” [NYP]
JJ reviews the Met’s current revivals of Aïda and Il barbiere di Siviglia in the New York Post. Meanwhile, the Times leads with the boos.
Our JJ‘s review of the Met’s revival of Le nozze di Figaro didn’t make it into today’s New York Post for reasons that you should be able to figure out once you’ve read the piece. At the suggestion of his editor, La Cieca is publishing it here.
“Tosca is no highbrow psychological study — it’s an operatic slasher movie.” [NYP]
Our Own JJ (not pictured) nominates the can’t-miss operatic and vocal events of the autumn of 2009. [NYP]
Notorious cumblogger JJ has finally cleaned up his mess. [New York Post]
Our Own JJ reviews A Flowering Tree in today’s New York Post.
“Thrilling musical ideas rapidly alternate with banalities, as if Meyerbeer feared he was writing for an audience with the attention span of a gnat.” Our Own JJ weighs in on Les Huguenots in the New York Post.
Our Own JJ braved the wilds of the Lincoln Center Festival, where he saw and reviewed The Peasant Opera, though for reasons best known to himself he omitted any mention of the giant jeweled dildo. [NYP]
So says Our Own JJ, who had a lovely time at Caramoor’s L’elisir d’amore, and lived to tell the tale at musicalamerica.com.
Simply everyone chimes in today about Monday night’s Met in the Parks recital at Central Park SummerStage. JJ has one take, Anthony Tommasini quite another, and for depth of detail, you need look no further than Our Own Sanford:
You know, La Cieca and her alter ego JJ are just like the pair in that lovely song by Mr. Sondheim, “The Story of Lucy and Jessie.” Well, not just like, perhaps. La Cieca can hardly be accused of having “maturity and plenty of security” and dear JJ does not exactly boast “the purity along…
