Loving liner notes to accompany the BBC/PBS series hosted by the affable tenor. Snowman (The World of Pl†cido Domingo, 1985, etc.) followed a TV crew as it traced a ``year in the life'' of Pl†cido Domingo, traveling from Vienna, where he appeared as Siegmund in Die WalkÅre; to Hollywood, where as artistic consultant to the Los Angeles Opera he directed their production of La Bohäme; to New York's Metropolitan Opera for the lead role in Otello; and finally to Bonn, for a collaboration with film director Werner Herzog on a production of a modern Brazilian opera. When Snowman grandly proclaims that the TV series is ``a project unprecedented in the annals of film or television,'' one realizes that puffery will outweigh profundity throughout this expedition. When he isn't marveling over the ``ferocious schedule'' that the superstar tenor keeps, he is praising Domingo's ``uncommon fusion of physique, vocal quality, and musical intelligence.'' Through the four chapters of this brief valentine, Snowman combines a little operatic history, a little sight-seeing, and an occasional backstage glimpse; but he hardly provides the revelations about the operatic world that his overheated prose seems to promise. Snowman's analysis of Domingo's performing and conducting skills is, not surprisingly, hardly profound. There is no critic that Snowman can find who has a bad word to say about the tenor; no audience that is not ``adoring''; no peer who is not ``amazed'' by the ``incredible'' sympathy the singer shows. But when Domingo has an adolescent fit because the record company of his main competition on the operatic stage, Luciano Pavarotti, chose to advertise its client's recordings in his program booklet, one wonders whether this ``colossus'' is as generous as Snowman would have us believe. Flattery, apparently, will get you somewhere. (24 color & 4 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-931340-98-5
Page Count: 188
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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