Voilà la belle grisette!
Andriana Chuchman will sing the role of Valencienne in this season’s April and May performances of Lehár’s The Merry Widow.
Metropolitan Opera
The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
Door to door
The Met’s planned premiere of Iolanta/Bluebeard’s Castle was cancelled due to the Great Blizzard That Wasn’t.
Shortlisted
I expected something lovely, but what I beheld was nothing short of magnificent.
Wish upon a star
At what moment does a “rising star” become simply a “star”?
A wasted time
Vittorio Grigolo in the title role of the Met’s revival of Les Contes d’Hoffman is the opera version of the charming homeless drunk.
Job description
La Cieca is sometimes asked what it is that a dramaturg does, or why it is that an opera house need a dramaturg
Ah, con tal morbo ogni speranza è morta
Ludovic Tézier is continuing to recover from an illness.
Lost and found
Verdi must have gotten tired of tossing and turning by now and has gone back to resting in peace.
Moon and stars
One of the major complaints about the five year casting system (as well as the shared productions by different companies) is that operatic events are rarely surprises anymore.
Rossini crescendo
Sooner or later, Our Own JJ gets around to discussing the Met’s Barbiere di Siviglia and Juilliard’s Turco in Italia in this week’s New York Observer.
Grisette is the word
“In case you missed it on Saturday, we took a look at early rehearsals for the new production of The Merry Widow, starring Renée Fleming and, in this clip, Kelli O’Hara!”
Demuro felice
“Italian tenor Francesco Demuro will make his Met debut in the role of Rodolfo in this evening’s performance of La Bohème, replacing Charles Castronovo who is ill.”
Dog bites man, part infinity
“The soup is hot; the soup is cold; Norman Lebrecht got it wrong again.”
Snow business
Every year I say I’m not going to another La Bohème because I’ve seen this too many times.
Let the shortfall! When it crumbles we will stand tall, face it all together
“In a fiscal year that challenged the nation’s largest performing arts organization to find a more sustainable financial model for the future, the Metropolitan Opera incurred an estimated $22 million budget shortfall for the 2013-14 season.”
Break the internet
The Met has just announced it is revising once again its rush ticket policy, doing away the “lottery” system in place earlier this season and instead going to a “first come, first served” online sale daily.
Einspring awakening
“In a last-minute substitution, American tenor Bryan Hymel will sing the role of Rodolfo in this evening’s performance of La Bohème, replacing Ramón Vargas, who is ill.”
The seven percent solution
You figured it out a fortnight ago, cher public.
Katerina’s insomnia
Throw in a trio of murders and a healthy splash of vodka and you have, more or less, the plot of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Dullsville
This was the kind of night that proves the haters right: sometimes opera is boring.
Screwing the Puccini
“Sonya Yoncheva will sing her first-ever staged performances of Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème at the Met on November 14, 20, 24, 28, December 1 and 5, replacing Kristine Opolais.
Side eye and bitch face
At the first intermission at last night’s Met revival of Aida, I turned to my companion and said, “So… what about the Aida? I thought she was supposed to be good.”
Red shoe diaries
Sonya Yoncheva will make her North American role debut as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Met this January.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
