Alpine Nile
JJ reviews the Met’s current revivals of Aïda and Il barbiere di Siviglia in the New York Post. Meanwhile, the Times leads with the boos.
New York Times
My old flame
Anthony Tommasini‘s Sunday Times think piece about opera direction (fetchingly adorned with the Susannesque headline “Halfway Won’t Do”) is online now. La Cieca thinks TT’s heart is in the right place (and of course she’s still all aglow after the Babs interview), so she’s going to stay mum about that Herbert Wernicke production of Die […]
“Tosca, sei buu!”
More about That Night from the Boo York Times.
The Grey Lady Has an Interview
The New York Times, in its never-ending quest to find more expensive and less relevant ways to cover the arts, has dispatched Daniel J. Wakin to Rome for an in-depth conversation with the man of the hour, Franco Zeffirelli. The legendary stage director, conceding that he has not had a fair chance to tell his […]
Un vecchio grida ad una nube
As newpapers across the nation decimate their staffs, as arts writers beg to write free for blogs, and as (apparently) nothing else happens in the world today, Alan Daniel J. Wakin is still answering Franco Zeffirelli’s drunk-dials. Hilarious takeaway: Frengo metaphorically compares the fag-specific metier of operatic stage direction to heterosexual marriage. [NYT]
Hello? Gorgeous!
La Cieca feels like she’s supposed to make a joke here, but she can’t — because Anthony Tommasini‘s interview with Barbra Streisand is like… well, you know!
NYT can only afford one lede
Unlike the directors of some recent Metropolitan Opera stagings, Julie Taymor received an enthusiastic ovation when her production of Mozart’s “Zauberflöte” had its debut at the house in 2004. If the Metropolitan Opera continues on its current path, Jonathan Miller’s 1998 production of Mozart’s “Nozze di Figaro” will be succeeded either by a version couched […]
Paragraphs you’ll never see in the NYT, part one
“As ever though, it was that gnomic figure in the orchestra pit that dominated the night. James Levine, the Met’s principal conductor, made his debut at the Met with Tosca in 1971 and now approaches his 2,500th performance at the house. From the audience, all you see of him from behind as he conducts is […]
Look out, that thing is sharp!
“Tosca gashes the portrait of the Magdalene (with a breast bared)…” Also: damn those bloggers! Damn them! [NYT]
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
“Eroticism! Kinkiness! Sacred-cow-skewering! Groin!” — New York Times
Bitter? A tad.
A willfully ignorant old queen turns up his nose at something he hasn’t seen: “idiotic…. third rate.” In other news, dog bites man. [NYT]
Grey lady meets dark lady
A video glimpse of the new Tosca, from the New York Times. The wig needs some major cleaning up.
Flan club
La Cieca thinks the following is among the most obnoxious puffery things ever written about an opera singer, and it’s surely the worst bit in the tongue bath the New York Times Magazine gives Danielle de Niese:
Column inches
La Cieca’s curiosity is always aroused when a journalist probes with really penetrating questions.
Missionary
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]
Skylight at the end of the tunnel?
In the wake of a New York Times exposé of Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre’s welter of “demonstrations, petitions, mass resignations of performers, subscriber revolt and Facebook vitriol interpreted by management as violent threats,” Playbill News reports this morning that Eric Dillner, the “vilified” managing director of the company, has resigned. According to a story this […]
park performance
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:
cast party
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, […]
eyes on the prize
La Cieca hears that Renée Fleming is going to be a Mastersinger. In related news, veteran “marker” Sixtus Beckmesser has announced his retirement. Elsewhere, Susan Graham and Thomas Hampson will be hosts of the fifth annual F. Paul Driscoll Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. The November 19 festivities will be held […]
the squid and the yalie
Don’t expect much in the way of art at NYCO for the next few seasons, but, on the bright side, George Steel probably has sufficient water-treading skills to avoid drowning. [NYT]
purple with love’s wound
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 […]
must… curtail… season…
“I don’t see how they could not close…There is a slight chance that they can remain open, but where would the money come from?” That’s Robert W. Wilson, former New York City Opera chairman, deftly nabbing the takeaway quote from Robin Pogrebin‘s NYT analysis of what went wrong for the company. And wait until you […]
hunkenscoop
La Cieca apologizes in advance to her dear colleague the Barihunks site, but she’s happy to unveil the latest of the barihunk breed. She first noticed this singer because he has an ideal barihunk name: Holger Falk. He’s appearing in L’incoranazione di Poppea at the Boston Early Music Festival, where he garnered a strongly positive review […]
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!
