|
A perusal of the Met's 2002-2003
season brochure reveals a name prominent in its absence: Jane Eaglen,
scheduled to sing Donna Anna, has withdrawn from the company's Don Giovanni production.
The good news (well, the "even better" news...) is that the lovely Sondra
Radvanovsky looks likely to take over the Mozart heroine for these
performances. A thrilling account in the New
York Post of the hours leading up to Luciano Pavarotti's
decision not to sing his farewell performance last Saturday night. Perhaps
most interesting tidbit: Gildo di Nunzio's scornful reaction to Joe
Volpe's insistence that the Pav should have reported to the Met to
apologize to the audience in person: "That's ridiculous - if you're
sick, why would you be at the theater at all?" Reporting that Angela Gheorghiu
is difficult is rather like writing "dog bites man," La Cieca
realizes, but here's some fresh evidence: the soprano's manager Levon
Sayan severed professional ties with the diva this weekend only moments before
her new production of La rondine opened at Covent Garden. "I can
only work with normal people," said Sayan, whose former clients include Frank
Sinatra, Charles Aznavour, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr. A news story in the Times of London goes on to quote the
ever-pissy Jonathan Miller on the subject of Gheorghiu's
"rudeness." Dr. Miller is also on hand to whinge in the current Opera
News. Wouldn't it be lovely if the doctor would become so busy
disapproving that he would no longer have time to inflict his insipid stage
direction on the world of opera? Salvatore Licitra jetted into New York Thursday to stand by
for the ailing Luciano Pavarotti at the Met's closing night gala. As
everyone knows by now, the Pav canceled Saturday night's performance on less
than an hour's notice, but Licitra made a smashing debut, winning a
four-minute ovation at his curtain call. The Pavarotti scandal ignited a
firestorm of controversy that reached even the New York
Post's front page. Only hours before the madness
began, Joe Volpe made his traditional address to the Met patrons, and,
just as tradionally, a mole from parterre box filed this
report: The Met is facing a shortfall for
this year of $9.4 million, but they have somehow managed to save $6 million
in expenses, averting an even huger deficit. Pirata next season is a "vanity piece"
for Renee Fleming. Volpe assured the crowd that Ben Heppner
has promised that he will be back in fettle in time for Troyens next
season. The Troyens sets (previewed on slides) are inspired by the
British artist Andrew Goldsworthy and look very modern and impressive,
says our source. However, it's a unit set, which may be dull to stare at for
six hours. There will be a Trojan Horse, hooray, hooray. The
Konchalovsky Troyens was going to be vastly more expensive than Francesca
Zambello's, so it was ditched. A new Magic Flute in 2004-5
will be by Julie Taymor. (What are the odds that will happen?)
Also promised that season are Cyrano de Bergerac for Placido
Domingo and a new production of Macbeth starring Maria
Guleghina, Frank Lopardo, Nikolai Putilin and John Relyea, James
Levine conducting. More tenuous (guess why?) are plans for a new Faust
with the Alagnas. Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Rene Pape are
also featured. Highlight of the afternoon was a
long rant about the notorious "accident" on the opening night of War
and Peace. Nothing of the sort, says Volpe; according to the Met's
archival video of the performance, the "fall" was clearly
intentional. In a plot twist right out of Law and Order, Volpe said he
has heard the guy on tape announcing (after the fact) that he took a dive and
that this leap would make him famous on Fox News. Volpe then tore Tony
Tommasini yet another new asshole, snarling that the Times
reporter "knows nothing about stagecraft." Oh, and there's a new Tan Dun
opera for 2005-6 called The First Emperor to star Placido Domingo.
Volpe said, "We don't know if he'll be a tenor or a baritone by
then." Save the date! parterre
productions returns to the boards with a production of Tosca at
chic downtown boite La Belle Epoque on July 24. Watch this space for details
on casting and tickets for the shabby little shocker. La Cieca joins the AIDS Walk New
York this year; it's about as deserving a cause as there is, and she's asking
you to pitch in. So, obey La Cieca when she tells you to make a donation online or else stop what you're doing right this
second to write a check to "AIDS Walk NY" and drop it in the
mail to parterre
box An old story, but worth the
retelling. Contributed by a loyal parterre box reader: The year, 1980, the production,
Opera Company of Philadelphia Traviata (Niculescu, Gonzalez, Nolen) Prologue: Sills does La Loca
at NYCO; Gigi Denda does - as always - her hair and makeup. Niculescu, a new
NYCO artist, comes backstage to kiss up to Sills; sees this Lowly Makeup Girl
in the dressing room, ignores her. NYCO goes to L.A. Exact same thing
happens, same Lowly Makeup Girl. Later Niculescu runs into LMG in the hotel
elevator and basically snubs her, Gigi meanwhile knowing full well she was
going to direct Niculescu in Philadelphia. Act One: Niculescu arrives in
Philadelphia to find out this "lowly makeup girl" is staging her
Traviata. Niculescu proceeds to arrive late for rehearsals and never
acts/sings full out. Act Two: Dinner a number of days
later: Denda, Maestro Siciliani, Mr. and Mrs. Niculescu. Gigi: I
have an early rehearsal tomorrow and must get back to my hotel. Ms. N: Hotel?
I thought you lived here... Gigi: No, I
live in San Diego. Mr. N: Oh
really? How's the opera company there? Gigi: Oh,
it's a good company. Ms. N: It's
a wonderful company! Tito Capobianco is the general manager. Gigi: Yes,
I know. He's my husband... Ms. N (after
a long pause while all color drained from her face): Then,... you must be
Beverly Sills' closest friend... Gigi nods affirmatively with a
nice smile. Act Three: The next morning Gigi arrives
at the rehearsal before any of the artists arrived and told us what had
happened. Needless to say, Niculescu gives the performance of her life at
every rehearsal after that. Faye Dunaway swept into town for a launch party for her
directing debut, the short film The Yellow Bird, based on a short
story by Tennessee Williams. The intensely charismatic diva sported a
white Armani pantsuit exposing just a hint of bare midriff, and of
course her trademark tousled blonde mane and cheekbones of death. Insiders at
WE(the cable
TV network presenting Yellow Bird) report that Dunaway's next acting
project will be the long-rumored film of McNally's Master Class, also
to star Johnny Depp (?) and directed by Bruce Beresford. Miss
Faye herself hinted the film may start lensing as early as September. We may have seen the last of opera
telecasts from the Metropolitan Opera; planned taping of the "new" Falstaff
was apparently quietly canceled last week. The program for Saturday night's
performance warned of the dreaded "altered light levels," but in
fact not a camera was to be seen anywhere. Met insiders are whispering that
the telecasts are regarded simply too costly on the Met's side to maintain. If you stumble into the execrable
new film Death to Smoochy (and I can't imagine why you would), be on
the lookout in the final "Manchurian Candidate on Ice" scene for
the unflappable Lauren Flanigan, who skates into the film in
rhinoceros drag (don't ask) whilst belting out bits of Tosca and Tristan
und Isolde. Which mighty maestro muttered
"not interested" following his audition of that lustrous lyric
soprano only days after her triumphant debut on that very stage? Oh, but I
forgot: someone else was waving the baton that spectacularly
successful evening; no wonder The Great Man can't be bothered! After eight years and 48 issues,
the time has come to wave goodbye, darlings, to parterre box, the
magazine. We've done our best but over the past year new subscriptions have
rather dried up and printing and postage costs have soared. The zine, which
never was a moneymaker in the first place, has been losing cash steadily.
This didn't matter so much while I was working steadily (hey, a hobby is
supposed to cost something, right?) but 2001 was a year of (mostly)
unemployment for me, and now that I‘m back among the wage-earners, there are
just not that many hours left in the day for both attending and writing about
opera. Yes, it's sad to be tapping out the last of the La Cieca columns, and
it's going to feel very strange to schlep the last of the print copies home
from Panda Copy on Broadway, and even stranger to lick and seal the last of
the mailing envelopes. But, hey, I lasted longer than Tina Brown, so
that's something to celebrate! Ma tergi il pianto! The demise of
the print magazine does not in any way mean the end of parterre box;
you're not getting rid of me that easily! The online version will stay
up and in fact we are already working to upgrade the site, adding lots more
content, modernizing the navigation and in general doing out best to make the
queer opera site the best opera site on the web. (When you come right
down to it, what parterre box does best is what the web does best;
print requires a long lead time, resulting in gaffes like you see in Opera
News or The New York Times.) Eventually all the content from parterre
box (the zine) will show up online, and then there will be constant
updates, overnight reviews and of course the bitchery and silliness you have
come to expect, and all of it free, too. The difference will be that we can
concentrate all our energy on the webzine without the (to be frank) hassle of
a print magazine. In celebration of the zine's
career, we have assembled what we humbly think is a particularly spiffy
issue. The centerpiece is a long and fascinating interview with James
McCourt, who reveals where Mawrdew Czgowchwz has been all these
years and goes on to offer his very particular point of view on opera past,
present and future. La Cieca's two most stalwart buddies, Enzo Bordello
and Dawn Fatale, rant once more, and then there's a bit of opera humor
here and there. Complete details on the Met's
2002-2003 season (including the startling news that Francesca Zambello
is taking over the Troyens production!) have been released. An old fox, it seems, can learn
new tricks: now that this megamanager's once iron-like grip over the
conductor market has slipped, he has diversified into negotiating contracts
for an American A-house's controversial Artistic Director -- while the AD
skipped town for the weekend. (No use letting them see you sweat, right?)
Concerned onlookers are left wondering: is this a case of "You show me
your quid, I'll show you my pro quo?" The
proposed move of the New York City Opera to the Ground Zero site (as reported
in the New York Times may be a smokescreen for plans to build a
theater much nearer the Lincoln Center campus, La Cieca hears. Just
keep watching and you'll see a variety of addresses proposed over the next
few months! Which squillionaire opera buff is
keeping his lip zipped (for a change) on the subject of his plummeting
portfolio and resultant rumored cutbacks in his largesse? More scandal from
around the globe: Pav's Gal Pal Pitches Panties! And of course you've read the
interview with dear Licia Albanese in the recent Opera News. Who hasn't? But
have you wondered where that Oscar came from? Could she have won it for this film? La Cieca is hearing rumors about
the casting of the New York City Opera's 2003 revival of A Little Night
Music, and we are talking about names, darling, names! Would you
believe Glenn Close as Desiree, Kevin Kline as Frederik and
(get ready to die!) Angela Lansbury as Mme. Armfelt! (Hell,
while they're at it, why not get Patti Lupone for Charlotte, Kevin
Spacey for Carl-Magnus, Charlotte Church for Anne, Justin
Timberlake for Henrik Rosie O'Donnell for Petra and Ryan
Phillipe for Frid?) Slightly more down-to-earth news
of NYCO's 2002-2003 season leaked onto the web a few days ago, but of course La Cieca has
more details. A member of the NYCO orchestra who asked to remain anonymous
tells us that PBS has demanded cuts in Porgy and Bess so that the
telecast would come in at under 3 hours and therefore not infringe on Charlie
Rose. Paul Kellogg remains optimistic about the prospect of a
new opera house, with sites in various parts of the city under consideration.
And the buzz is very favorable about two new sopranos debuting in Tabarro
and Boheme next season -- Fabiana Bravo and Angela Maureen
Marambio, respectively. And here's even more gossip from La Cieca! |
