Bread and Circuses!

I have great expectations from the forthcoming Italiana in Algeri. A delightful bubbling early Rossini who was only 21 years old when he composed it! Isabella's the kind of lady I admire! Gutsy! A shame the website does not tell us whom the Lindoro is yet - Juan Diego Florez perhaps???
For an amusing potted version visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAH4HixRPaU
If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry? 
Regrettably my days of attending live opera have passed since my substantial donation to dear Eric Watson’s birthday bash in the Hagia Sophia. You can book at
A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
****We all now about ‘placement’. The payment for advertising a product in a film to “assist” the budget. A little more blatant than sponsorship.
Now of course we can promote live on stage! At a recent performance of Verdi’s ‘La Traviata” at Zürich Opernhaus that brilliant self promoter (and singer!), Anna Netrebko sang the role of Violetta. The evening was sponsored by Chopard with whom Ms Netrebko is under contract. In the foyer you could admire the latest jewellery collection presented in showcases and in Act II Scene 2 Violetta showed off a six figure necklace and matching earrings - recognizably one of the pieces on display in the lounge."
I look forward to a Sleeping Beauty sponsored by a mattress company. A hundred years dormant - just think of it!!
Then of course there is commemoration.
Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton, Constant Lambert and Margot Fonteyn are to be commemorated upon a memorial tablet in Westminster Abbey !
***Civil union between various species is now accepted. But I hope the Auckland Zoo is not going to be too liberal.
A member of Poland's Law and Justice party has criticised its Poznan zoo for acquiring an elephant named Ninio that might be gay. The head of the zoo has defended the purchase however and claims that 10 year old Ninio may still be too young to decide whether he is gay, bi or hetero.
Why do I recall the beginning of the aria in Meistersinger “Wahn, wahn!”?
All discarded lovers should be given a second chance, but with somebody else.
Great to see the packed auditorium for the Sylvie Gauillaume/Russell Maliphant experience at Auckland’s Aotea centre. The frisson felt was memorable.
Mlle Gauillaume has chosen to take another path than that of the strict confines of classical ballet. I recall the tall Beryl Grey who successfully managed her ballet career. Often partnered by Bryan Ashbridge, she was the first western dancer to be invited to dance at the Bolshoi Theatre. Large theatre=large dancer - non?
another tall lady was the late Beatrice Arthur
"Look — I'm 5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line," What can I do about it? I can't stay home waiting for something different. I think it's a total waste of energy worrying about typecasting."

Haute Couture

****Weather is changing. Autumnal leaves are colouring the countryside and falling like snowflakes,Rain and wind approaching. Time to get out my bumbersoot!

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****Recent theatrical losses only highlight the risk of being an entrepreneur. Booking in advance cannot guarantee a success as who can predict the future? Gone are the days when it was one musical/opera/play a month. Nothing other than the cinema. Now there is a plethora of world class entertainment. A veritable smorgasbord -and inevitably it can lead to indigestion. In this PR created recession we are warned to be careful - but still encouraged to book expensive seats for Rugby and support another tier on the council wedding cake. A shame though we have to miss out on the Paris Opera Ballet. Sylvie doesn’t quite do it.  Needless to say we can forget  Jerry Springer: the Opera and Pericles. I feel I could apply for a position as an moirologist.

****Who said the written word is fast disappearing online. Publishers are printing 6.5 million copies of Dan Brown's new book. Fantasy is not yet dead.Right! Certainly not as far as Mr. Brown is concerned.  

****All things must come to pass. The recent sale of Vinka Lukas's gowns marks the end of an era. But the clientele for such wonderful exotic creations is very small in this fast streamlined era. Not so practical for the working woman. It merely emphasis that the self confident femme who can ‘carry it off’ is fast disappearing. Maybe Edith Bouvier Beale?

****She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

****At last what purports to be a reasonable film about that incredible woman, Coco Chanel. A favourable premiere in Paris with Audrey Tautou. The film is loosely (just as well ) adapted from the Edmonde Charles-Roux biography. Only person to miss out is Nicole Kidman with her ‘face” of ‘Numero cinq’

****Leonard Cohen is still going strong with his successful tour. Standing ovation at the beautiful Paramount Theatre, Oakland. "It's been 15 years since I was on stage - when I was 60, a young kid with a crazy dream then I took a lot of Prozac," he quipped before listing the other medications which got him through his darker days. "I studied all the religions of the world but cheerfulness kept breaking through," he added.   Certainly not an entertainer for the hebetudinous 

**** Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

*****Green MP Sue Bradford writes: "I think these signs at the Green Party's new offices, which we share with marketing agency Brand Spanking, reflect my belief that a light spanking between consenting adults for the purposes of pleasure should not be an offense".  Duh!

*****The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.  He acquired his size from too much pi.