“Eroticism! Kinkiness! Sacred-cow-skewering! Groin!” — New York Times
A Baroque Valentine’s with Opera Lafayette | Feb | DC & NYC
Celebrate love in all its guises with tender ballads, amorous duets, cheeky verses, and bawdy drinking songs plus food, cocktails and wine.
La Cieca’s curiosity is always aroused when a journalist probes with really penetrating questions.
George Steel recently gave Anthony Tommasini a sneak peak at his bulging Koch Theater. The Times scribe, “dodging sparks from welders and ducking under hanging cables” soon realized that the “boyish” intendant is just like President Obama, sort of. [NYT]
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:
Dear departed Shelley Winters knew a thing or two about the diva experience, and one of her most apt mediations on the topic may be found in her memoirThe Middle of My Century. She was starring in the Broadway production of A Hatful of Rain, and during rehearsals she stumbled on the heavily raked stage,…
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…
In the almost four years since La Cieca pointed out Anthony Tommasini‘s curious penchant for “strapping,” the NYT scribe has been forced to reach, well, a bit farther back on the shelf for his modifiers. TT’s current pet adjective, as La Cieca is sure you all have noticed, is “earthy.”
The New York Times, the Metropolitan Opera, and Comedy Central! Genius!
Tony Tommasini weighs in on the Met’s Sonnambula.
“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]
In the words dear Renata Scotto once used in a master class when advising a young soprano not to gesture so much, “And look who is telling her this!” Would you believe that La Cieca is actually having a gay old time reading Tony Tommasini‘s “Talk to the Newsroom” feature this week? Something about the…
“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]
Peter Gelb‘s million-dollar salary and the wit and wisdom of George Steel (“Things are tough”) are among the axes ground in Sunday’s Tony Tommasini think piece. [NYT]
Is it just La Cieca, or does someone at the New York Times have it in for Stephanie Blythe? Not the story by Anthony Tommasini, which is standard worshippy stuff — but the photos!
“All that is needed now is for Mr. Steel to get the company back onstage. Even a limited comeback season would be a triumph.” [NYT]
[This caption surpasses the original, “having wonderful time. love, tony”]
And “booed at La Scala” is the new “began career at Continental Baths.” [NYT]
“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]
Sharpen those nails and slather on a fresh coat of “Jungle Red,” ladies, because La Cieca hears that “it’s on” between two of the biggest players in NYC’s opera criticism power gay elite. (Well, admittedly that’s not a large pool of talent, but what they lack in numbers they more than make up for in…
Antifashionista Tony Tommasini says (among other things) this morning “You can see for yourself in an online montage linked to this article, not to mention a lavish spread in the current issue of Vogue, with Ms. Fleming modeling all of her designer costumes.” Okay, La Cieca gives up. What “online montage?” Where’s the link?
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.”)
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.
