Carmen was the first opera I knew and loved, before its tunes became too familiar and the eager young self dismissed it as unsophisticated. Last night, in the Zeffirelli production first staged at the Met in 1996, I began to rediscover its musical as well as dramatic intelligence. My memory of Don Jose, formed upon […]
Also filed in Film, Labor, Love, New York, Opera
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Tagged bizet, carmen, cigarettes, don jose, french, ildar abdrazakov, independence, irina mishura, Love, metropolitan opera, monogamy
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Saw a TV commercial the other day for this ensemble which I found mildly disturbing. Maybe because the sight of such synchronized strummings and smiles is bound to fire up some Asian-fetishist’s duodecuplet fantasy; maybe because those who order the Eastern Energy CD/DVD (officially released today and already scoring a sales rank of 15 on […]
“It was a great party — if you’ve never been to a party before.” Several though not all of the following recent excursions brought to mind those words by Truman Capote. Lakeside barbecue in Groton, Mass., at a plush and cozily posh house at the edge of the woods, rented for the year by a […]
A couple of months ago, This American Life on NPR featured the extraordinary profile of Chaim, a young Hasidic Jew who redubbed himself “Curly Oxide” and became something of a Williamsburg punk-rock star before marrying and returning to the life of Hasidim. Along similar lines, sans reversion, an emerging Hasidic reggae star of dubious talent […]
Today’s not particularly critical Critic’s Notebook (“India Resounding in New York”) in The New York Times surveys the overseas South Asian music scene — as every major NYC-centric generalist periodical seems to every seven months or so, whenever some nominally new item prompts re-inventory. The special occasion in this case may be Bombay Dreams on […]
A few very recent, admissibly notable events: Anna Karenina bolts to No. 1 in bestselling paperback fiction. On her May 27 show, still days before the official announcement, Oprah whispered a few hints to guest Sharon Stone about her next Book Club selection. For any alert lit-critter, Stone’s remarks in response were a dead giveaway: […]