“James Levine is trying to discredit one of his alleged victims by dredging up a ‘love’ letter his teen accuser once wrote to him.”
“Renée: ‘It’s a comedy, a farce, and I’ve become addicted to making people laugh’.”
Far be it from me to join the Schadenfreudian chorus of “Bye, Bye, Berti!” you may have been hearing in certain quarters, but the first thing I am duty-bound to report about San Francisco Opera’s Norma (of which three performances remain) is that they’ve hit the jackpot, coverwise.
Who knows what to expect from an opera about the Internet?
“The queen of tabloid TV arrived at BAM Tuesday night in Anna Nicole, an opera brimming with wit and good taste. In other words, they got Anna Nicole all wrong.”
If you’re a hard-core opera buff who finds the Met’s flashy sets and costumes distracting, have I got a show for you!
Opening last night, the most buzzed-about show at the Lincoln Center Festival was inspired by a 16th-century Chinese folk tale of a sassy Monkey, who uses his magic powers and awesome kung fu skills to retrieve holy scriptures from India.
The question on everyone’s lips at Carnegie Hall was, “Is Jimmy back in form?”
Just like the pyrotechnics the heroine of The Firework Maker’s Daughter longs to create, this new opera for children is a delightful, low-tech throwback to a time before CGI took over the world.
The most sensuous sounds at the Met this week come from an opera with nary a love duet.
In Leos Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, the heroine is shot and skinned for her fur.
Of the two love stories that unfolded at David et Jonathas Wednesday night, it’s hard to say which was more moving.
Like the Israelites who cross the Red Sea in Moses in Egypt, New York City Opera has a long, hard road ahead of it.
Ring a ding ding! There’s a new Duke in town, and he’s jolting the Met’s Rigoletto with enough electricity to light up the Las Vegas Strip.
Bollywood dance numbers, kung fu fighting, simulated nudity — and rock-solid musical values — added up to a sterling Giulio Cesare at at the Met.
Our Own JJ (not pictured) just came running into the parterre offices wild-eyed with excitement.
“The spring season at the Met is as changeable as March weather in New York: crisp and brilliant for a day or two, and then suddenly as dismal as Thursday night’s Faust.”
Short as Roman emperor Eliogabalo’s reign was, the world sighed in relief when it was over.
Thursday’s Met performance of the Verdi tearjerker featured a major find: Diana Damrau, who, in her first outing as Violetta, mesmerized with her gleaming soprano and ferocious acting.
It’s not often operagoers leave humming the scenery, but that was the case Monday, when the Met hauled out Riccardo Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini from the vault.
With Wednesday’s stellar staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, the New York Philharmonic joyously put the ‘music’ back into the Broadway musical.
When is good enough not quite good enough?
The Met’s performance of Don Carlo Friday night was a tragedy, but not for the reason Verdi intended.
Promiscuous — it’s not a pretty word. But when a matron in black underwear cavorts with two dozen naked hunks, what else can you call her?
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.
