[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/KE_YiNED5WQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] An excerpt from Jeffrey Lependorf‘s Tim Gunn’s Podcast (a reality chamber opera), performed by baritone John Schenkel, with the composer at the piano, from a performance at the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival at The Jazz Gallery.
Low camp, admittedly, but it’s still some sort of accomplishment when a movie is camp even before it’s released. With Paul Sorvino, Alexa Vega, Sarah Brightman and Paris Hilton heading the cast, how could Repo! The Genetic Opera possibly go wrong? [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/1TbiM3dVJhQ” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
If you ever wondered, cher public, what Adriana Lecouvreur would look like as a Charles Busch “Grande Dame Guignol” epic, well, now here’s your chance. (It’s surely coincidental, though serendipitous, that mezzo-soprano Marianna Bódi so closely resembles Olivia de Havilland circa Lady in a Cage.)
If there is a stranger opera video ever made, La Cieca hasn’t seen it. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/DvNhv5yEP0Q” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] And since we’re on the subject of dramatic sopranos, here’s our transplanted Turandot in more familiar vocal territory, circa 1973.
Here’s a quiz La Cieca trusts will prove thematically appropriate on this particular night: six sopranos sing “Du bist der Lenz.”
Legendary “Queen of Exotica” Yma Sumac has died at the age of 86. Among many credits in a career spanning more than half a century was a screen appearance as (obviously) a Peruvian priestess in the 1954 film Secret of the Incas.
The winner of the Which Witch quiz is Lindoro, who will receive Cult Opera of the 1970s.Â
Washington National Opera has posted a preview clip of their Lucrezia Borgia (opening on Saturday), and La Cieca predicts they have a hit on their hands. Renée Fleming, though she looks far too young to have a grown son, seems to be singing in a more straighforward and honest way. Hunkentenor Vittorio Grigolo charms even…
The legendary dramatic tenor is 82 years old today. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/yyLUIxpg-KY” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Joining Vickers for this 1967 clip from Die Walküre is Gundula “They tried to make me go to rehab” Janowitz.
A bit of Salome from the Royal Opera, with a somewhat less skittish sense of cinematography than what we got from the Met’s HD! [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/nBAbXZptfIk” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Finally a chance to see Naked Busker Guy Duncan Meadows in action! (And, forgive La Cieca for saying so, but if your leading lady sounds…
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/akQ4Uhp0DOw” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] CORRECTION: In the words of the immortal Anna Russell, La Cieca will now shriek, “I can’t count!” There are in fact 13 singers included in the “Which Witch” quiz/competition, not 11 as your doyenne previously announced. Math is hard!
It’s the Brokeback Ballet from Krzysztof Warlikowski‘s production of Yevgeny Onegin!
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“Each year seems to bring a fresh height for Fleming. Not since the sunny days of Beverly Sills has an American opera singer enjoyed so much popularity. And not since the brief, heady reign of Maria Callas has a soprano provided so much glamour to go with all the vocal appeal.” Tim Smith, in the…
Legendary Ladies from Sweden Zarah Leander and Birgit Nilsson celebrate Christmas 1977 with a belt-off.
Actress, singer and comedienne Edie Adams died on Wednesday at the age of 81. La Adams performed such operatic roles as Hanna Glawari and Despina in Cosi fan tutte regionally, and she created leading roles on Broadway in Wonderful Town and L’il Abner. She is particularly remembered for her personal and professional partnership with TV…
Tonight at Splash, Dorothy Bishop in “Viva la Diva,” directed by our own JJ: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/tMUy8bDyt94″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] More information on the show here.
La Cieca has managed to obtain a few fragments of the camera rehearsal for Saturday afternoon’s Salome HD telecast. Note the cutting-edge video techniques employed to distract the (presumably) pre-adolescent audience from Karita’s Kooter of Kontroversy. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/UdWjLz5NY-E” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
If Wenarto, members of Cirque du Soleil and Rolando Villazón got really really high one night, this might be the result. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://ca.youtube.com/v/A6udHRk1llU” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] (In fact, this music video stars Serge Desrosiers and was directed by Sandrine Béchade.)
Katherine Jenkins apparently has already begun her vocal studies with Placido Domingo! In fact, the legendary tenor has gone so far as to lend the Welsh songbird his own personal orchestra parts for “Nessun dorma!”Â
What the Met’s opening night was like for those who (unlike your plebian doyenne) enjoy celebrity status.
Suffering artist Wenarto has decided to take arms against his sea of YouTube troubles and move his act to the less-celebrated but perhaps friendlier venue of Vimeo.com. What could be more fitting than that he should make his debut with a farewell.
La Cieca dedicates this video to pop singer/Broadway belter Clay Aiken. Nice to have you with us, buddy, and it’s about fucking time. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/JjK1k9y7ccY” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/7HMCZ589eKc” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] “WHAT in GAY hell was jumping around him?” exclaims a puzzled YouTube fan, and La Cieca agrees that even the gifted Stephen Costello seems nonplussed by, well, all that gay hell. (This clip is from a recent Rigoletto performance.)
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.
