By Zachary Woolfe 10/05/11 9:45am

Culture

Taken at the Metropolitan Opera during the rehearsal on September 20, 2011.

Grin and Bear It: Why Anna Netrebko’s Smile Got the Critics Riled

One night in London in 1734, two opera stars ended up on the same stage. Senesino played the part of an angry tyrant, Farinelli a hero in chains. The two were bitter rivals, but, so the story goes, when Farinelli sang his melting opening aria, “he so softened the obdurate heart of his oppressor that Senesino, quite forgetting his stage character, ran to Farinelli and embraced him, much to the surprise of the audience.”

Senesino, we would say, broke character. Read More

By John Heilpern 2/07/00 12:00am

Is it More Verdi or Annie ? The Great Debate Rages On

Some time ago, I went to see a production of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes in the splendid company of Sir Alfred (Freddie) Ayer, who, at 78, was game for anything. The former Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford who was also the model for the dotty hero of Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers , loved musicals, and Read More