Anna Russell's Return
Peter Stark
I attended Anna Russell's "return" concert in (then) Philharmonic Hall in New York, back in the 1970's.
She hadn't appeared in NY in years, having moved off to Australia, where she did musical comedy (among
other things... did she ever record her role in A Little Night Music?)
I never saw a more star-studded audience. It seemed as if the whole roster of the Met was
there. I sat near Christa Ludwig, who laughed uproariously, especially during the "Ring analysis."
Was reminded of it during Ludwig's intermission appearance Saturday.
Matthew B. Tepper
In article <6blqgf$89t$1...@kali.ziplink.net>, pst...@zip1.ziplink.net
spake:
I believe that was in 1977. I caught her act in San Francisco. She
was hilarious!
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
My main music page --- http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/berlioz.htm
And my science fiction club's home page --- http://www.lasfs.org/
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
boris goodenough
In article <6blqgf$89t$1...@kali.ziplink.net>, Peter Stark
<pst...@zip1.ziplink.net> wrote:
> I attended Anna Russell's "return" concert in (then) Philharmonic Hall in
New York, back in the 1970's.
> She hadn't appeared in NY in years, having moved off to Australia, where
she did musical comedy (among
> other things... did she ever record her role in A Little Night Music?)
>
> I never saw a more star-studded audience. It seemed as if the whole roster
of the Met was
> there. I sat near Christa Ludwig, who laughed uproariously, especially
during the "Ring analysis."
Richard Bonynge visited our store last year (Tower in Denver) while here to
conduct the Opera....I had the AR video up and running and the Maestro and
his secretary were both standing there laughing uncontrolably! (Wish I had
had my camera handy!)
Ragbert
ducky兀deltanet.com (Matthew B. Tepper) writes:
<<< pst...@zip1.ziplink.net spake:
I attended Anna Russell's "return" concert in (then) Philharmonic Hall in New
York, back in the 1970's. [snip] >>>
<< I believe that was in 1977. I caught her act in San Francisco. She was
hilarious! >>
And I saw her in Boston! She certainly WAS hilarious!
(How many of these did she do, anyway? I bet she wore that pink shmatah for
the whole run, too!)
--RAG
Kenneth J. Ariotti
Didn't know there is an Anna Russell video available. Please post label and
numbers and availability and price...would like to get my hands on it and
any others she might have made. Thank you. KJA
--
--- KEN...@MSN.COM
boris goodenough wrote in message <6bmebn$l...@chile.earthlink.net>...
>In article <6blqgf$89t$1...@kali.ziplink.net>, Peter Stark
><pst...@zip1.ziplink.net> wrote:
>
>> I attended Anna Russell's "return" concert in (then) Philharmonic Hall in
>New York, back in the 1970's.
Matthew B. Tepper
Kenneth J. Ariotti wrote:
>
> Didn't know there is an Anna Russell video available. Please post
> label and numbers and availability and price...would like to get my
> hands on it and any others she might have made. Thank you. KJA
If memory serves, there are at least two: "The First Farewell Concert"
and "Clown Princess of Comedy."
Ragbert
"Kenneth J. Ariotti" <ken...@email.msn.com> writes:
<< Didn't know there is an Anna Russell video available. Please post label and
numbers and availability and price.. >>
The only one I've seen was put out by VAI, called "Anna Russell: The (First)
Farewell Concert". It is a live performance from 11/7/84 at the Baltimore
Museum of Art. There's a picture of her on the front wearing the pink chiffon
number (which also is the subject of one of her bits), and it includes the Ring
Cycle and G&S bits, as well as lots of other wildly funny stuff. Catalog # is
69019, and I believe it's still around.
Hope you can find it!
--RAG
Ken King
"Kenneth J. Ariotti" <ken...@email.msn.com> writes:
>
> << Didn't know there is an Anna Russell video available. Please post label and numbers and availability and price.. >>
>
and can't remember when I laughed so much, particularly at the following
snippets:
... my friend Erda, the Green-faced torso ...
... <about Siegfried> and he's very very brave, and very very
handsome, and very very strong, and very very STUPID . . .
... and then where do you think you wind up? Exactly where
you started twenty-seven hours ago! ...
Still LOL,
Ken
John Bodie
I don't think anyone has mentioned my favourite, right at the beginning of the
Ring analysis:
"The scene opens in the Rhine - IN it!"
--------
J. Bodie
Leah Coffin
In article <jbodie.nospam...@lois.dgim.doc.ca>,
jbodie...@lois.dgim.doc.ca (John Bodie) wrote:
> I don't think anyone has mentioned my favourite, right at the beginning
of the
> Ring analysis:
>
> "The scene opens in the Rhine - IN it!"
>
Or my favorite, from the "The (First) Farewell Concert" video:
When describing Siegfried's first encounter with Brunnhilde, she says of
him: "He makes the classic understatement of all time: 'This is no man.'
[throws up hands, rolls eyes] I mean, have you *seen* the average
Brunnhilde?!"
--
Leah C.
lco...@brynmawr.edu
I am easily assimilated.
To reply, take out the trash!
Ragbert
I don't know if this bit ever actually made it to video, but when I saw her
live, she mentioned that her fans often asked her why she didn't sing her
trademark high notes anymore. Her answer (somewhat paraphrased from memory):
One day I was in the bathtub, when all of a sudden, menopause just came
and hit me right where it counts.....and my voice fell 3 octaves!
There was general pandemonium for about 5 minutes after that. :-D
--RAG
Deborah Overes
The line that always cracks me up is when she describes Siegried's meeting
with Getrune Gebich (sp?) with the words ".... who is, by the way, the only
woman he's ever met who is NOT his aunt!" God bless her!
Deborah Overes
dov...@sprint.ca
"Art is God's turn to talk"
- Michael Moriarty
Cramnella
Great thread. So many to choose from! One of my favorites is her description
of the Siegfried / Brunnhilde duet as, "the sort of thing, 'anything you can
sing, I can sing louder" after which she demonstrates concluding, "I think
probably she wins."
Ed Boxer
My favorite, from How to be an Opera Singer, is:
The reason she is such a great singer is because she has resonance where her
brains should be.
Ed "Boxer" Jones
Check out my home page: http://www.GeoCities.com/WestHollywood/9172
A Guide to Opera on CD; Boxing; my Lego creations; Drum and Bugle Corps; Key
West
JJ
I always liked her description of the Rhine Maidens as "a kind of acquatic
Andrews sisters".
Jon
Klyphil
Was it Russell who, after she was slightly injured in a taxi cab accident,
found that she sould "sing a higher C than ever"?
Also, did she used to sing Valvedre's "Clavelitos" in recital and toss
carnations from a basket at her audience? I heard that if the song was to be
encored she would send her accompanist into the audience with a basket to
retrieve the flowers.
James Jorden
Klyphil wrote:
>
> Was it Russell who, after she was slightly injured in a taxi cab accident,
Actually, that was Florence Foster Jenkins, who was as funny as Anna
Russell, and wasn't even trying.
=====
james jorden
jjo...@ix.netcom.com
http://www.anaserve.com/~parterre
"Mister Johnson, si chiede spesso la man...per avere il braccio!"
Claud H. Shirley III
Klyphil wrote:
>
> Was it Russell who, after she was slightly injured in a taxi cab accident,
> found that she sould "sing a higher C than ever"?
>
> carnations from a basket at her audience? I heard that if the song was to be
> encored she would send her accompanist into the audience with a basket to
> retrieve the flowers.
No - that was the great mold breaker, Florence Foster Jenkins.
g.f.
In article <19980214204...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
Klyphil <kly...@aol.com> wrote:
>Was it Russell who, after she was slightly injured in a taxi cab accident,
>found that she sould "sing a higher C than ever"?
>
it may have been a higher f :)
Greg
John Lynch
Klyphil wrote:
>
> Was it Russell who, after she was slightly injured in a taxi cab accident,
> found that she sould "sing a higher C than ever"?
>
> carnations from a basket at her audience? I heard that if the song was to be
> encored she would send her accompanist into the audience with a basket to
> retrieve the flowers.
Others have identified the singer as Florence Foster Jenkins, but her
accompanist was Cosme McMoon. That name always evoked the image of a
middle aged woman in tweeds, cotton stockings and sensible shoes.
Imagine my surprise when someone told me that McMoon was really Gerald
Moore in disguise. That didn't ring true at all, so I wrote to Francis
Robinson who wrote the entertaining jacket notes to the Jenkins album,
"The Glory (????) of the Human Voice." Back came a reply by return mail
stating that McMoon was a real person whom Robinson had last seen in the
pool when they were both summoned for jury duty. He added that before
Kirsten Flagstad came into his life, Edwin O'Connor was Mme. Jenkins's
accompanist. She fired him.
Side two of the album contains "A Faust Travesty" in Brooklyn accented
English. A woman and an adenoidal man turned up in the custom recording
studios of RCA Victor one day and proceeded to sing the the roles of
Marguerite, Faust and Valentin, and indirectly, Mefistofeles, because
they did the final trio as a duet. Not to be missed.
jly...@world.std.com
jly...@fas.harvard.edu
g.f.
In article <34E6DF...@world.std.com>,
John Lynch <jly...@world.std.com> wrote:
>Side two of the album contains "A Faust Travesty" in Brooklyn accented
>English. A woman and an adenoidal man turned up in the custom recording
>studios of RCA Victor one day and proceeded to sing the the roles of
>Marguerite, Faust and Valentin, and indirectly, Mefistofeles, because
>they did the final trio as a duet. Not to be missed.
>
doing it on purpose whereas Madame Jenkins is nothing if not
earnest. Are the Faust signers for real, John?
I just played "The Glory" for a friend who had never heard it.
Music-making at its delightful best...
Greg
John Lynch
I've never doubted that they weren't being dead serious. The joke would
have worn thin long before the final trio if they weren't in earnest.
--
John Lynch
Eduardo Gabarra
Klyphil <kly...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19980214204...@ladder02.news.aol.com>...
> Was it Russell who, after she was slightly injured in a taxi cab
accident,
> found that she sould "sing a higher C than ever"?
> Also, did she used to sing Valvedre's "Clavelitos" in recital
and toss
> carnations from a basket at her audience? I heard that if the
song was to be
> encored she would send her accompanist into the audience with a
basket to
> retrieve the flowers.
I heard both stories attributed to Florence Foster Jenkins. In
fact, they are told in the liner notes of her CD.
Eduardo Gabarra