Metropolitan Opera
The mothership and mecca of opera in America—and home base for Parterre Box.
missing minghella
The recent death of Anthony Minghella leaves at least two Met projects in limbo. First is the opera commissioned from Osvaldo Golijov, Daedalus, currently scheduled for the 2011-2012 season. Minghella was set to serve as librettist and to direct the completed work. According to Variety, the late director’s plans at the Met also included a […]
o ew’ge chat, suesse chat!
UPDATE:Â Be sure to join Commie-Winning Doyenne La Cieca for what is sure to be an historical webchat tonight beginning at 6:45 pm. According to an announcement on the Met’s website, tonight’s performance of Tristan und Isolde featuring (together! for the first time!) Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt will be streamed live over RealPlayer. In […]
are you ready to regie?
Lots of interesting guesses, but the previous Regiequiz seems to have stumped our panel. The opera depicted is one that has become something of a favorite of revisionist directors, La Juive. You can see some of the more interesting bits of the staging in context in this video from the Staatsoper Stuttgart:Â [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/xEnPr8jbjb0″ width=”425″ […]
jungle red
La Cieca just taken a look at a detailed schedule of Met performances for next season, and so she’s only just become aware of the following very interesting couple of weeks around the holidays:
doubleplusungood
A loyal member of the cher public noticed this howler by Need You Ask in the online NYT earlier today: Unfortunately for La Cieca (and, well, yes, for anyone else with journalistic standards — so sue me!) the Times has already managed to do one of their “Ministry of Truth” numbers on the offending paragraph […]
Now the Great Baird
It’s Janice Baird as Isolde tonight, opposite (still) Ben Heppner. This is getting to be like a freaking mathematical exercise.
questa e mimi
So La Cieca’s Met spy tells her that Angela Gheorghiu sauntered into a rehearsal for the Café Momus scene 45 minutes late after what must have been a leisurely lunch, then proceeded to offer “suggestions” improving upon the Franco Zeffirelli staging of the scene. La Cieca would say that given the diva’s track record, the […]
I believe you can do this, Gary
It looks like Gary Lehman will finally get a chance to use the full extent of his acting abilities when (inevitably) he takes over the final two performances of Tristan und Isolde next week. In honor of Gary’s return to the cast, the Met is splurging on an actual rehearsal for the maverick renegade heldentenor […]
leave it to jane
This season’s revival of Tristan und Isolde at the Met has led a number of you to wonder, “what the hell is Jane Eaglen up to these days?”Â
e sondra non ritorna
UPDATED at 5:10 PM: La Cieca hears confirms that soprano Angela Meade will make her Metropolitan Opera debut tomorrow night as Elvira in Ernani, replacing Sondra Radvanovksy, who is ill.
schlockheaded peter
Our own JJ recounts how “John Doyle‘s new staging of Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Metropolitan Opera sinks without a trace” in the current issue of Gay City News.
In other Wagner news…
La Cieca has just heard a whisper that the Met’s new Robert LePage Ring cycle for the Met (beginning in 2010-2011) is already in the midst of a major cast change: Christine Brewer looks likely to be the new Brünnhilde instead of the previously announced Deborah Voigt. UPDATE: Now La Cieca has also heard another […]
the decision
This last-minute jump-in moves forward Robert Dean Smith‘s Met debut by two seasons. His official bow will be in a revival of Die Frau ohne Schatten in December 2009.
Todesteppich
Little Stevie reports on last night’s “danger carpet” incident during the Met’s Tristan:
right or wrong, wrong or right
The most official-looking word La Cieca can find on Saturday afternoon’s Tristan HD adventure is here — and so, it seems, she was half right: Robert Dean Smith will sing the one performance, but only the one. Now, this was just an instinct before the online evidence was presented to her, but your doyenne was […]
topsy turvy
It used to be that us li’l online scribblers tried our best to imitate big-time print writers like James McCourt or Ethan Mordden. But now it seems, everyone wants to be bloggy. And since you asked, yes, La Cieca does have an example. Here’s Justin Davidson doing his best impression of Opera Chic!
Anthony Minghella is dead
Director of the Met and ENO Madama Butterfly (and librettist of the Met’s Osvaldo Golijovcommission) is dead at 54. Further details are not available at this time.
o sommo webchat
Cher public, La Cieca hopes you will join her tonight for a live chat during the Sirius and RealNetworks transmission of the Metropolitan Opera’s Ernani. Since the opera begins at 8:00, the chat room will open at 7:45.
another tristan review
Though La Cieca must say she can’t quite figure out whether the critic liked Gary Lehman‘s performance or not… “. . . Lehman has navigated quite well to date through persistently volatile and challenging financial markets, the sharp market wide decline in valuations across numerous asset classes, tight global liquidity conditions, and the strong headwinds […]
grimes is at his jazzercise
As we know, the “Wall of LGBT Role Models” has been deleted from John Doyle‘s staging of Peter Grimes at the Met. In fact, there were a number of other explicit gay references in the production that were omitted or toned down after the dress rehearsal. For example, here’s a rejected costume for Anthony Dean […]
shaken not shtirred
Okay, since when did Thomas Hampson turn into Sean Connery?
music drama
Our Own JJ was at the Met last night (and part of this morning) to review Tristan und Isolde for Gay City News. As such he witnessed the rather astonishing series of events that Atomic Wings told you about earlier. La Cieca cannot of course ask JJ to comment on the specifics of the performance […]
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!
