Divamensch

Karen and I saw *Vanessa* at Heartbeat Opera on May 20, 2026. This was one of the cultural events I was most looking forward to this season, for three reasons. First, I've loved *Vanessa* since the 80s. I think it was one of the first opera recordings I bought on CD. An amusing side story: my friend Bill is an opera fanatic, even more fanatical than I. He and his wife had me over for a listening party sometime around 1989. I browsed through his shelves looking for a recording

I think lots of people my age (if they think of Della Reese at all) think of Della Reese as the costar of Touched By An Angel. I never watched that show - - I think of Reese as a singer. I am CRAZY (and I mean crazy) for her album Della Della Cha Cha Cha. "Daddy" is my favorite song on that album. I don't think I've heard anyone else sing it and frankly don't want to. The squeak she adds at the end of the word "daddy" sends me straight to the moon. This is also pretty amazing

The 1971 Tony awards were head-to-head between two shows in many of the musical categories - - No, No, Nannette versus Company. Diva: No, No, Nannette Mensch: Company No, No, Nannette is pure nostalgic escapism. Lots of color and feathers and tap dancing. Company still has plenty of pizzazz but it examines real issues confronting people in contemporary society.

I was saddened to read in The NY Times this morning that English soprano Felicity Lott had died at the age of 79. I was especially sad that I never got to hear her in person. She had a clean, clear voice and refined musical intelligence that was perfect for the Mozart, Strauss, and song repertoire. She had an early affinity for the French language and was particularly effective in French songs. Coincidentally I just watched a DVD of her performing Poulenc's one-woman opera La

Stephanie and I saw El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego on May 14, 2026. It's an opera with music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank (she just won it a couple weeks ago!) on a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. The opera had its premiere in San Diego in 2022 and has also been produced at San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. We didn't know it when we bought the tickets but we happened to see the Met premiere. The opera opens on

Stephanie and I saw Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Met on May 12, 2026. I was in the chorus of this opera in college so I know it pretty well. I've always loved it, it's my second time seeing it at the Met. I saw this production (directed by Deborah Warner) when it was new in 2013 and I really didn't like it, I thought it was drab and dull. I decided to take my chances and see it again because Asmik Grigorian was playing the female lead - - I heard her as Lady Macbeth in

My brother Howard alerted me to the death of his beloved Claudine Longet, who died yesterday at the age of 84. She was a singer and actress at her peak in the 60s. Howard sent me a couple of CDs around the turn of the century, highlights from his vast Longet collection. I found something strangely unsettling about her singing and the bright, sparkly production vibe of her recordings. It reminded me of Twin Peaks - - the surface is so squeaky clean I felt there must be somethi

I discovered Playboy After Dark on YouTube a few years ago. I asked my brother Howard if he was familiar with that show, of course he was. He sent me to this clip of Deep Purple and Hef: That's fun but THIS is freaking seismic. Musically speaking - - the Hammond organ, oh yes. And the lead singer, what a voice on that dude. He sang the role of Jesus in the original album of Jesus Christ Superstar so he's no slouch. And visually speaking - - the big 70s hair, the classic Engli

Tammy Grimes won the 1970 Tony for Best Actress in a play for playing Amanda in Private Lives. Anything by Noel Coward is a Diva but especially that lady! One of the other nominees was the inevitable Helen Hayes as Aunt Veta in Harvey. I guess she's the leading lady in that show but the play is really about Elwood, played in this revival (as it was in the movie) by Jimmy Stewart. Miss Hayes is pictured with Mister Stewart in the photo below. Diva: Tammy Grimes in Private Live

Francesca and I went to Pub Choir at Webster Hall on May 11, 2026. It wasn't so much a performance as an experience. "Everybody can sing. Like, not well, but literally. Why should being average at something stop you from doing it!? It hasn’t yet… Singing is good for you, it’s EASY, and Pub Choir is here to show you how. Created and hosted by music witch, Astrid Jorgensen, Pub Choir is an ENTIRELY improvised, comedy music lesson. The show is a euphoric sensation that transfor

Jim, Michael, Dave, and I heard the New York Philharmonic and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra on May 10, 2026. The concert didn’t appear to be part of the NY Phil season, it seemed to be a pop-up concert at a Washington Heights venue, a project conceived of by the incoming artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel. We heard about it because Michael got an email from the venue, the United Palace. Jim, Michael, and I all live within five minutes of the United Palace - - I had walked past

YouTube is such a gift! Last week they suggested I watch this clip of "Sing For Your Supper." The unlikely trio is Roberta Peters (star of the Metropolitan Opera), Donna McKechnie (triple threat Tony winner for A Chorus Line) and Kaye Ballard (brassy belter and comedienne). It made me think of this other unlikely trio: Joan Sutherland (star of the Met, Covent Garden, La Scala, etc), Dinah Shore (honey-voiced girl singer), and Ella Fitzgerald (jazz singer extraordinaire). What

I'd never heard of María Nieves Rego (died at 91) but she had a major role in a Broadway show I love. She and her dance partner and onetime husband Juan Carlos Copes were stars of Tango Argentino, which I was nutty for back in the 90s. The cast recording might have been the first thing I owned on cassette tape and then upgraded to CD. Here's the two of them doing their thing: It says a lot about me that when I think of Ted Turner (died at 87) I don't think of him as the man w

The winner for Best Musical in 1969 was 1776. A beloved musical by many but not exactly setting the barn on fire. Any Broadway musical that examines our Founding Fathers in such an earnest way is definitely a Mensch. If I may do a pivot - - Hamilton is a total Diva. Another nominee was Hair - - a definite moment with that show, so full of transgressive Diva energy, and without a doubt one of the most influential original cast albums ever. Is it safe to say that the album was

Sam I and I saw the London National Theatre’s Hamlet at BAM on May 2, 2026. The production was directed by Robert Hastie, best known right now for directing Operation Mincemeat on Broadway (which neither of us has seen, and Sam sees a lot). It was advertised as a “witty, fearlessly contemporary take” on the play. Mincemeat has a reputation of being manic and madcap so I was curious to see how that sensibility would work with Shakespeare’s tragedy. It worked very well! I often

Let's have another Friday with another glimpse of Miss Channing, shall we? She hit the big time playing Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She tore up the joint, was the toast of the town, her career was secured with that role. The original lyrics were changed for the movie, they were too darn racy! In the movie they sing: Then someone broke my heart in Little Rock So I up and left the pieces there Like a little lost lamb I roamed about I came to New York and I found ou

The winner for Best Play at the 1968 Tonys was Tom Stoppard's Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Another nominee was Arthur Miller's The Price. I know the Stoppard play a bit - - I read it back in the day and also saw the movie, directed by Stoppard himself. It's a total Diva play, full of clever wordplay and show off moments, for the actors but mostly for the writer. I don't know The Price but the Wikipedia description reeks of Mensch: "It is about family dynamics, the pr

I love that my brother Howard alerts me to the deaths of people of whom I've not heard. See how deftly I avoided ending that sentence with a preposition? Nedra Talley Ross was a founding member and the last surviving member of The Ronettes. Ronnie Spector got all the press for that group and as lead singer I guess that makes sense but there were two other girls in the group! They might not have had as distinctive a voice as Spector, they might not have had the drive and the c

Jere, Dale, and I heard Barbara Hannigan with the New York Philharmonic on consecutive evenings in late April 2026. They heard the concert on Friday April 24, 2026 - - they texted me as they were leaving and said I absolutely had to buy a ticket for the next night. This is what Jere said in his text: “OMG. We just came out of the NY Phil with Barbara Hannigan singing the Poulenc La Voix Humaine. You must get a ticket for tomorrow night. Unbelievable. Run don’t walk. We both t

I heard Voices of Ascension in a concert called "Masters of the Renaissance: The Netherlands School" on April 23, 2026. I've been going to V of A concerts at least once a year since around 2003. They're a professional chorus based at the Church of the Ascension in Greenwich Village. They're astonishingly good - - their artistic director and conductor Dennis Keene does a genius job at programming, selecting the singers, and bringing out the glories of the music. They have the