Archive for July, 2011
Judge approves viewing of Jackson film outtakes
LOS ANGELES Both the defense and prosecution in the involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson’s doctor have won permission to view raw footage of rehearsals from which the concert movie “This Is It” was made.
Prosecutors, who first asked to present only excerpts from the theatrically released movie, revised their request Friday after Dr. Conrad Murray’s attorneys gained Sony Pictures’ agreement to show them unused footage.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said prosecutors want to see the same material. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said both sides may go to Sony studios and view the material.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death from an overdose of propofol and other sedatives.
Caramoor gives ‘Pinafore’ bel canto treatment
KATONAH, N.Y. Mention “bel canto” opera and you might think of Bellini’s “Norma” or Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor.” But “HMS Pinafore”? Never!
What, never? Well … hardly ever.
Because that’s exactly how Will Crutchfield, director of opera at Caramoor, asked the audience to think about Gilbert and Sullivan’s nautical romp as it opened the 2011 International Music Festival on Saturday night at this outdoor venue an hour north of New York City.
With Crutchfield conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and a cast of operatically trained voices, the evening indeed fit at least the literal translation of “bel canto,” which is Italian for “beautiful singing.”
It was a joy to hear this affectionate satire of the class system aboard a British war ship performed with such high musical values, from soloists to chorus to instrumentalists. And the simple but clever direction by Steven Tharp made the concert performance at the Venetian Theater more engaging than many a fully staged production.
Less persuasive, perhaps, is the case Crutchfield made for regarding “Pinafore” as a direct descendant of the “bel canto” style of Italian opera of the 18th and early 19th century, known for its emphasis on vocal technique, including trills, runs and other elaborate decorations.
True, as he points out in a program note, both collaborators were heavily influenced by these operas. Gilbert’s first comic verse was a rewrite of an aria from one, and the young Sullivan transcribed piano-vocal arrangements of many of the operas for a music publisher.
Several numbers in “Pinafore,” which premiered in 1878 and became the team’s first smash hit, do hearken back to a bygone era. Among these are the two arias for Josephine, the captain’s daughter who loves a common sailor but is wooed by the first lord of the admiralty.
Still, these efforts are not Sullivan’s most inspired, sounding like slightly faded imitations. It’s elsewhere in the score that his inimitable gift for melody comes most to the fore in the captain’s song (”I am the captain of the Pinafore …”); the rollicking trio “Never mind the why or wherefore” or the intricate choral harmonizing of “A British tar.”
In a uniformly strong cast, two singers stood out. Tenor Robert McPherson sang with unforced sweetness and impressive power as Ralph Rackstraw, the “common sailor” who turns out to have been nobly born. Vanessa Cariddi brought a burnished, imposing mezzo-soprano and an alluring physical presence to the role of Little Buttercup.
Michael Jackson’s former GM pleads in tax case
WASHINGTON A former general manager for Michael Jackson has pleaded guilty for failing to file tax returns during the time she worked for the late pop star.
The Justice Department says Raymone Bain failed to pay income taxes owed from 2006 through 2008. During that period, she was responsible for daily operations of the Michael Jackson Co., including financial, public relations and marketing tasks.
Court documents put the tax loss between $200,000 and $400,000.
Bain pleaded guilty to two counts in federal court Wednesday. She could face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for failing to file a federal tax return in 2008, and up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine for failure to file a District of Columbia tax return in 2008.