He visited Little Italy and Chinatown, posed for pictures on the Brooklyn Bridge, marveled at the tall buildings and took in shows. He played cards in the back room of an Italian restaurant on 34th Street with the tenor Enrico Caruso. He was the toast of Gilded Age New York, thronged by reporters and cheered on by Vanderbilts and Astors. Giacomo Puccini was a quintessentially Italian composer — “La Bohème” and “Tosca” remain opera house staples, more than a century after they were written — but his career was also shaped by the time he spent in New York. He visited twice: The Metropolitan Opera brought him over in 1907 to oversee its first productions of “Manon Lescaut” and “Madama Butterfly,” then again in 1910 when it staged the world premiere of his American-themed opera, “La Fanciulla del West.” In 1918, the Met gave the premiere of “Il Trittico” — which the company is reviving Nov. 23 to Dec. 15 , with a cast including Plácido Domingo, to mark the work’s centennial — but … [Read more...] about When Puccini Came, Saw and Conquered New York City
Beloved reviews new york times
A Ransacked Endowment at New York City Opera
A fundamental premise of successful investing is “sell high, buy low.” So what explains the New York City Opera board’s decision to do the opposite? In what appears to have been panic selling, the City Opera board sold all the equities in the opera’s endowment and moved to cash in October 2008, as the stock market was plunging to new lows, and stayed in cash during 2009, as the market recovered and surged upward. The opera recorded an eye-popping $9.5 million investment loss for fiscal year 2008, ending in June 2009. There are surely many people responsible for the sad fate of New York City Opera, a much-loved cultural treasure that filed for bankruptcy last week after years of mounting deficits, management turmoil and bad decisions. But the fate of the endowment, established to ensure the existence of City Opera in perpetuity, is a stark measure of the management failure. City Opera had an endowment of $51.6 million in 2001. By June 2013, the market value had dwindled to just $5.2 … [Read more...] about A Ransacked Endowment at New York City Opera
New York Public Library Acquires Joan Didion’s Papers
It was April 1957, and Joan Didion was writing to her family in California about her job as a copywriter at Vogue. “Work is dull and tedious,” she wrote, adding, “I can hardly wait to quit.” Didion, 22 at the time and less than a year out of the University of California, Berkeley, also added her thoughts on a book she had recently read that lamented the conformism of her peers. “All anyone in this generation wants is security and group belonging,” she wrote, “and what will happen to the world if nobody is willing to risk that security to gain the big things?” Inside the envelope, Didion tucked a magazine clipping showing a “little black dress” she had recently bought, which had proved “a smashing success.” “It looks slightly different on me, because it is slightly too small for me,” she wrote, “wherein lies the success of it all.” When Didion died in 2021 at age 87, the news set off an outpouring of tributes to a writer who fused penetrating insight and … [Read more...] about New York Public Library Acquires Joan Didion’s Papers
Susan Henshaw Jones to Leave Museum of the City of New York
When Susan Henshaw Jones became director of the Museum of the City of New York in 2003, the way forward was as complicated as a Greenwich Village street map. The institution, on Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, was running deficits; in the winters, visitors to its 1932 building were advised to keep their coats on; the programming was widely perceived as stodgy. “We were effectively broke,” said James G. Dinan, the museum’s chairman. Ms. Jones, he said, “saved the institution.” Now, as a 10-year renovation and restoration nears completion, and after getting the museum back on solid financial ground, Ms. Jones, 67, has decided to step down in December. “This place is in good shape for the next gal or guy,” she said in an interview at the museum. Some of the goals set by Ms. Jones will remain unrealized in her tenure. She had initially hoped to build annual attendance to 500,000 from 82,000 when she started; it has reached only 250,000. Museum officials say progress was … [Read more...] about Susan Henshaw Jones to Leave Museum of the City of New York
ESPN pundit says Jets ‘could win it all’ if New York lands this superstar quarterback
close Video Fox News Flash top sports headlines for January 26 Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. As speculation around Aaron Rodgers’ future in Green Bay continues to be the talk of the NFL, one team has emerged as a potential landing spot for the four-time MVP. The New York Jets, fresh off missing the playoffs for the 12th straight season, are rumored to be a potential destination for Rodgers should the Packers decide to trade the 39-year-old quarterback. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers waves to fans after the Los Angeles Rams game in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Dec. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) The package for Rodgers would be steep, with two first-round draft picks the expected haul for Green Bay. But it’s one that NFL journalist Peter King thinks Jets owner Woody Johnson would "happily pay" as he’s "desperate for a star QB." AARON … [Read more...] about ESPN pundit says Jets ‘could win it all’ if New York lands this superstar quarterback
THEATER; Debbie’s Doing New York Now, But Rate Her PG
See the article in its original context from October 27, 2002 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. PORNOGRAPHY isn't just for dirty old men anymore. The movies that used to be shown in seedy Times Square theaters are now under bright lights at the Museum of Sex on Fifth Avenue. ''Auto Focus,'' Paul Schrader's biopic about the actor Bob Crane, who filmed his own sex life, is playing in a number of local movie houses. And Elaine May's forthcoming comedy, ''Adult Entertainment,'' which opens on Dec. 2 at the Variety Arts Theater, is about a group of actors who want to make a porn movie with class. ''People just take porn in stride these days,'' said Marc Spitz, a senior writer at Spin magazine and the author of his own porn script, which was turned into a play titled ''Shyness Is Nice'' and staged at Westbeth last year. ''There's nothing dangerous about sex anymore.'' The … [Read more...] about THEATER; Debbie’s Doing New York Now, But Rate Her PG
