LOC Looking For a Little Free Help on Stage

"The Lyric Opera of Chicago is looking for extras to play henchmen, soldiers, gravediggers and noblewomen. The Lyric Opera says auditions will start in September and run on certain dates throughout the beginning of next year. They're looking for dozens of extras to play everything from villagers in Mozart's The Magic Flute to Ethiopian prisoners in Verdi's Aida. Auditions take place at the Civic Opera House in downtown Chicago. Extras, or supernumeraries, are unpaid volunteers. They receive $15 per rehearsal and performance to pay for transportation costs. Children who play extras can apply for grants to pay for transportation costs. The opera says attendance at all rehearsals and performances is mandatory." [Source]

Heineken Brings Football (aka Soccer) to Prague Opera House

Heineken's latest advertisement takes aim at the Football crowd by pitting Clarence Seedorf against Gianluigi Buffon in the Prague Opera House to battle it out among Roman warriors, opera-singing angels and one magic flute player. Watch the clip below and check out more screen caps after the jump.

Madama For Cocoa Puffs

Click to enlarge this humorous item about the name of a dear opera heroine:

More about breakfast cereal here and Puccini's opera here. [Source]

Gérard Depardieu Makes Fun of Airplane Incident Wagner Style

Callas, Bizet and The Museum of Sex?

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS NUDITY AND IS NSFW (BUT THE SOUNDTRACK IS PERFECTLY FINE FOR WORK...):

obscene diary from onur karaoglu on Vimeo.

"Last year saw the rediscovery of a major figure whose remarkable story illustrated the secret history of gay life throughout the 20th Century. In Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade, author Justin Spring tells the thrilling tale of Sam Steward, a man who documented every one of his many sexual exploits in obsessive detail, providing a wealth of understanding to future generations looking to understand the pre-Stonewall era. Now the artifacts of Steward’s life have been collected and displayed in a brilliant, inspiring show at the Museum of Sex in New York City. Keep the Lights On‘s documentarian Onur Karoaglu asked Justin Spring to show him around the exhibition one morning a few weeks ago. Secret Historian, along with An Obscene Diary: The Visual World of Sam Steward is in bookstores now." [Source]

11 Most Amazing Advertising Spaces

Leasing Head for Advertisement:

A Chinese man is leasing is head for advertisement and ensure that it will attract 100% of people to read the ad.

Read more »

14 funniest Bumper Stickers Ever

Found on a VW Bug, Mexico.

Read more »

25 Unfortunately Placed Ads

Advertising can be creative and even purposely funny. But sometimes, an ad on a bad place can have unexpected results! Here is a list of 25 unfortunately Placed Ads

Read more »

Google Includes "Operetta" Episode in 100th Celebration

One piece of jewelry can turn
a funny lady into a serious diva.

"Lucille Ball may have been born 100 years ago today, but her jokes are timeless. Having grown up with the comedic genius of I Love Lucy, it’s hard to believe that Lucy, Desi, Fred, and Ethel wrapped up the initial series in 1957. Lucy’s creativity, absurdity, and ever-changing facial expressions (especially when she was scarfing down candy, stomping on grapes or touting a new energy drink) have brought joy and laughter to generations of viewers. We’re incredibly happy to celebrate her birthday with a doodle to highlight her brilliant career as an actress and businesswoman. Through the old-timey TV live on the google.com homepage all day on August 6th, you can flip the six channels for a special Lucy broadcast. Happy birthday, Lucy — we still love you!" [Source]

To celebrate, Google has created a doodle on their homepage that is actually a television set which the user can turn the knob to watch different clips of the funniest moments from the show's history. One of the clips featured is from episode #38 titled The Operetta that originally aired on October 13, 1952. What can only be described as Carmen meets Il Trovatore meets The Mikado (even Wagner's "Wedding March" from Lohengrin has a cameo...), a hilarious plot ensues and Ethel (Vivian Vance) gets to show off some of her singing chops.

Plot: The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League wants to stage an operetta to celebrate the club's 25th anniversary. Unfortunately, club treasurer Lucy Ricardo has pilfered some of the club funds -- so she writes an original operetta for them to perform. Lucy and Ethel decide to write an operetta, and Lucy pays for the costumes and scenery with a post-dated check. Meanwhile, Ethel and Ricky convince the chorus to enter whenever Lucy, playing "Camille- Queen of the Gypsies", starts to sing. The performance includes such ditties as: "We're the Pleasant Peasant Girls;" "Lily of the Valley;" I Am the Good Prince Lancelot;" "Queen of the Gyosies" and "We Are the Troops of the King." [Source]

Watch the full episode by clicking here. Check out a complete biography of Lucille Ball here.

Going Retro: Julianne Moore's Wagnerian Sequence in "Lebowski"

Hot starlet Julianne Moore has a new film out, Crazy, Stupid, Love and it's worth looking back at one of her most memorable scenes in movie making. In 1998, she appeared as Maude in The Big Lebowski. It may particularly stand out for opera fans, because the dream sequence features the actress in full valkyrie armor mode....for the bowling alley. Check out the music video:

More pictures are after the jump.

Judge Acquits Mezzo-Soprano in NY Trader Joe's Case

Judge ShawnDya Simpson dropped
her gavel on the case. (Photo: Steven
Hirsch/New York Post)

"A Manhattan judge yesterday took only 15 minutes to acquit opera singer Marcella Caprario of all charges in a wacky, diva-on-doctor slapdown over a frozen vegan pad-Thai dinner at a crowded Upper West Side Trader Joe's. The verdict, by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge ShawnDya Simpson, means prosecutors failed to prove the mezzo soprano intended to cause injury when she slapped family practitioner and TV talking head Dr. Catherine London in the face during an argument in the frozen-food aisle in January. The frosty fracas -- so New York-kooky that it was covered in both local and national media after The Post broke the story exclusively -- was sparked when the doctor's 13-year-old son got between Caprario's

Mezzo-soprano typecast
(Photo: Steven Hirsch/New York Post)

husband and the store-brand frozen vegan pad-Thai dinners, Caprario's favorite...The freelance opera singer had insisted from the start that the doctor had rushed at her in the frozen-food aisle while making 'animal-like' faces -- and needed slapping. London practices at the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center on the Upper East Side and has appeared as an expert on the Joy Behar show, CNN and Fox television....When she asked politely that Bill stop, the singer called the doctor and both her teen sons 'New York rude,' started cursing up a blue streak and slapped her out of nowhere, the doctor had testified. The single slap caused a medical compendium's worth of injuries, the doctor had announced on the witness stand -- including "ecchymosis" and "petechiae" on her face...Caprario countered that yes, she had cursed at the doctor -- "Get the f--k out of my face" was the wording she recalled -- and she had slapped her, but only after the doctor got nose-to-nose with her. 'After she rushed at me she began making grimaces and moving her head in a strange, animal-like manner,' the singer had testified." [Source]

Wanna Buy President Abraham Lincoln's Opera Glasses?

"The story goes that the opera glasses were found in the middle of Tenth Street after the mortally wounded Abraham Lincoln was carried from Ford’s Theatre to his deathbed in the Petersen House that April evening in 1865. For generations, they were kept in the family of the Army officer who found them. In 1979, they sold at auction for $22,000, a record for a Lincoln artifact. In 2002, they sold again, for $424,000, another record. Next week, the black and gold theater glasses Lincoln is believed to have used the night before his death are going back on the auction block, where experts think they could fetch as much as $700,000." [Source]

Canary Fanciers Meet Your Mecca: Coloratura Craziness

The legendary Coloraturafan on YouTube has compiled some of the craziest high notes to come out of a soprano's throat. Divas included in the video are Edita Gruberova, Beverly Sills, Lucia Aliberti, Diana Damrau, Natalie Dessay, Luciana Serra, Gianna Rolandi, Mado Robin, Mady Mesple, Joan Sutherland and more. Dog owners hold on to your leashes!

Snap, Crackle, Popera: Rice Krispies Takes on Opera

Super Mash-up of Rossini Overture and Rocking Drums

Justin Timberlake Plays Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Floria Tosca Appears With Justin Timberlake on SNL

"When there's two guys and only one girl, just remember the golden rule." Check out Justin Timberlake in the digital short from Saturday Night Live this weekend. As he goes to visit a lady friend he meets an unusual piece of art hanging in her apartment hallway. See who the girl is he's visiting and watch the clip after the jump.

Plácido Domingo Surely Does Not Endorse This Product

Check out the background music to this cheesy product advertisement for the "Facial Flex" by clicking on this link.

I'm Afraid Cavaradossi Takes the Bullet This Afternoon

Dear  Diary:

I am a volunteer with the Metropolitan Opera Guild. In January, I was with a Manhattan middle school group attending a dress rehearsal of “Tosca.” We were sitting in the Dress Circle.

During the intermission, I was explaining the history of the opera house. Gesturing toward the side boxes, one of the students asked, “Which is the box where Lincoln was shot?”

Name withheld

The New York Times

Metropolitan Diary

"A Confused Bit of Theater History"

Published: April 17, 2011

[Source]

Kiri Te Kanawa All Leather and Lace