New York Times Clips Wings Off Metropolitan Opera's "Bat"

Susanna Phillips (Rosalinde) and Christopher
Maltman (Eisenstein) in Johann Strauss, Jr.'s
Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera
(Photo: Nick Heavican)

"Real Champagne tends to provoke sticker shock in cash-strapped young people hoping to drink their way through New Year’s Eve. A popular solution is André, the saccharine, mass-produced sparkling wine that sells for about $4 or $5 a bottle. The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Johann Strauss Jr.’s tuneful farce Die Fledermaus, which rang in the new year on Tuesday evening, is operatic André: bubbly, sweet and syrupy. It’s not subtle or deep, but if you’re determined to have a party, it’ll get the job done. And the Met’s youthful cast is nothing if not determined to celebrate. The performers sing, dance and mug their way through Strauss’s classic waltzes with big smiles and lots of hearty laughter, intent on showing the audience a good time. But their lines are often worthy of groans more than giggles." [Source]

Christopher Maltman Bares All In Don Juan Film

Posted today on Barihunks and Parterre, the trailer for Kasper Holten's film version of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni has hit the internet and it has plenty of the lead man. The Danish film is sung in English and is simply called Juan. and has a 90-minute run time. The cast includes Christopher Maltman, Mikhail Petrenko, Maria Bengtsson, Elizabeth Futral, Katija Dragojevic, Audun Iversen and Peter Lohdahl. There is even a cameo by Plácido Domingo. The synopsis, according to the IMDB: "The successful artist and playboy Juan is a notorious seducer of women, through his ability to be just what a woman dreams of: Charming, charismatic, strong, sensitive, sexual. Driven by a restless urge to conquer new women, use them, and throw them away, he has hired his friend Leporello to help create a masterpiece: A filmed database of all the women whose dreams Juan has shattered. We follow Juan and Leporello through 24 compressed hours. Juan seduces the young upper-class girl Anna, but ends up accidentally killing her father, a powerful police commissioner. The two friends run away, but Juan's constant need to seduce new women keeps interrupting their flight.

As the police gains in on them, Juan also steals the young bride Zerlina from her groom Masetto, and soon a feverish manhunt is on for Juan." What makes the film unique, besides the nudity, is the singers are recorded live eliminating the lip-synching that gives many opera-to-celluloid ventures a faux reality. The film was released January 9, 2010. Trailer after the jump. [Source, Source]

Airlines Deliver Renée Fleming to Dresden

After much discussion about snow in New York and Dresden, as well as last minute scrambling for replacements for one of the Silvesterkonzert performances, Renée Fleming appeared as promised on New Year's Eve. She sang highlights from Die Lustige Witwe with the Staatskapelle under conductor Christian Thielemann. 

English baritone Christopher Maltman joined the soprano in excerpts from Léhar's operetta. She also sang "I Feel Pretty" from Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story. 

 There are more pictures and video links after the jump.