Author: Chris Van Patten

1.20.09

“I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”

-John Adams

Where in the World is Lee Venora…? – Update

Months ago, I asked this question regarding this somewhat obscure but enormously talented lyric soprano who performed in musical theatre, opera and concert. Much to my delight and surprise I received an email from someone who knew Ms. Venora and had relayed my post to her. Most graciously, I received an answer to my question. Ms. Venora decided to retire in 1978 while her voice was still in its prime in order to spend time with and focus on her family. Throughout her career she had seen too many relationships suffer from the physical and emotional absences that are required when working as a performer. I am happy to report that Ms. Venora has been healthy, happy in her marriage and in her life and lives in pleasant retirement with her husband near their daughter and grandchildren.

If you ever have a chance, you should check out her shimmering soprano on the cast recordings of Kismet, Kean, or The King and I. She is the definitive Marsinah and the definitive Tuptim. There’s also her work on Leonard Bernstein’s recordings of Bach’s 2nd symphony with the NY Philharmonic and Bach’s Magnificat in D. You will not be sorry.

Blessed Event: O’Hara to Depart "South Pacific" due to Pregnancy

The effervescent Kelli O’Hara is expecting her first child with husband Greg Naughton in mid-July and will leave the company of the smash-hit revival of South Pacific in March. No replacement casting has been announced yet, but she does plan on returning to the show in the fall when co-star Paulo Szot plans on finishing up his run. Congratulations to the proud parents to be!!

Metropolitan Diary

From the NY Times Metropolitan Diary on 1/11/09:

Dear Diary,

I was, for 18 years, Leonard Bernstein’s assistant and editor and the conductor of many premieres of his works.

Probably the most painful part of the post-mortem world for Lenny’s three children was the disposal of his clothes after their father’s death in 1990. One autumn day a package arrived at our home in Chelsea. When I opened it, I found a dark blue cashmere pullover and a deep purple cardigan with a note from the kids. They had decided that these two garments should be mine.
Here was a perfect sartorial metaphor for Leonard Bernstein. While the dark blue pullover was something no one would ever notice, the cardigan said, “Look at me!”

A few days after the arrival of this magical package, the weather was just right for a public airing of the purple cardigan, and I screwed up my courage and wore it to a meeting I had uptown.
When I got into the subway at Seventh Avenue and 18th Street, I thought to myself, “Surely this is the very first time this cardigan has been in a subway!”

I saw a man enter the far end of the car to my left. He was badly dressed, had a cardboard cup in his hand and was surely going to ask all of us for money.

As he got closer, I realized that he wasn’t stopping. He was walking through the car and he was singing: “The people ride in a hole in the ground. New York, New York! It’s a helluva…” and he was gone through the door that took him to the next car.

I had taken Lenny’s cardigan for its first ride on a subway. And there was laughter in that hole in the ground.

John Mauceri