La Cieca wishes to be among the first to congratulate Jessye Norman, who has emerged from semi-retirement to leap upon the musical theater bandwagon. The legendary diva is currently appearing in Tokyo in a new production of Fiddler on the Roof directed by Julie Taymor. Read more »
“Two-time Tony-winning director Julie Taymor is working on developing… a modern [film] update of Richard Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman, called Riders of the Storm…. Riders on the Storm sets The Flying Dutchman in the present day, turning the opera into a story about a man who cannot love without dying. He winds up falling for a woman who is tough, hard-headed, a great athlete, but emotionally not all there.” [Broadway Buzz]
Celebrated conductor William Christie, widely considered among the foremost interpreters of early-music for modern audiences, and his acclaimed ensemble Les Arts Florissants have delighted audiences at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) for 30 years. On March 1st, they return with Rameau, maître à danser, featuring two rarely seen operas originally penned by 18th-century French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau for the court of Louis XV.
A pastoral atmosphere prevails throughout La naissance d’Osiris, a one-act ballet set to a libretto by Louis de Cahusac commissioned to celebrate the birth of the Duke of Berry, future Louis XVI; Daphnis et Églé tells the story of two lovers ignorant of their own love for each other, charming audiences with its use of classic European dance styles like sarabande, gavotte, gigue, minuet, tambourin, and contredanse.
Both operatic miniatures served as a symbol of the court’s opulence as well as a source of evening entertainment; together, as Rameau, maître à danser, they serve as a sublime showcase for Christie’s singular brilliance and the ravishing power of baroque music. At the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Mar 1—3. Read more »
La Cieca wonders if the horrific accident during last night’s performance of the Spider-Man musical (which promises to re-open Wednesday night with “additional safety protocols“) reminds you of, well, anything familiar? Read more »
Cher Public