Oh, signor Johnson Oh, signor Johnson

La Cieca is going to go out on a not very long limb here and say that Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West is a great role for Jonas Kaufmann and may well turn out to be one of his three or four greatest.

By on October 14, 2013 at 1:06 AM
78 comments

“’I never understood why’… Men take steroids. I mean ok, it makes you big and buff, but it shrinks your penis. I mean ok, the muscles attract the women, but at the end of the night, aren’t they embarrassed?” [Playbill Arts]   “Some in the business call it ‘Peter’s Dilemma’.” [New York Times]

By on September 24, 2011 at 9:26 AM
54 comments

Inspired by Our Own Camille (not pictured, obviously), La Cieca proposes a new competition in honor of the Met’s coming revival of La fanciulla del West. Your challenge: share with us the most suggestive double-entendre line in a published synopsis or review of Puccini’s opera.

By on November 17, 2010 at 12:04 PM
52 comments

Bloomberg News (your go-to source for bad news about New York City Opera) today laments that the company has “once again reached deep into its endowment.” According to scribe Zinta Lundborg, that endowment has suffered perhaps irreversible shinkage, dwindling from a massive, bulging $51 million in 2001 to a puny, humiliating $3 million currently. Lundborg suggests…

By on April 22, 2009 at 11:35 AM
74 comments

Our Own JJ takes to the airwaves this afternoon to yak about the new regime at NYCO. He’ll be on “Soundcheck” on WNYC between 2:00 and 3:00 PM. La Cieca is told that George Steel himself will also be on the program, so she will caution JJ to be sparing in his use of the…

By on January 15, 2009 at 12:12 PM
25 comments

[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ZuHnfcSk4Yc” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]

By on October 24, 2008 at 5:09 PM
24 comments