The Met’s #MeToo moment – ‘Tosca’

January 30, 2018

The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” – an opera about sexual harassment – was rocked by that now seemingly ubiquitous phenomenon. Already reeling from the loss of the original stars and conductor, the production took a giant step back when the second conductor, former music director James Levine, was hit with sexual abuse allegations and suspended a little less than a month before the New Year’s Eve premiere. Ten days after Levine’s suspension, Bryn Terfel, scheduled to play the villain, withdrew, citing vocal fatigue.

Sometimes, however, you get not what you want but what was meant – or who was meant. That The Met pulled off this ‘Tosca’ is a relief. That it’s as wonderful as it is, is nothing short of a miracle. ...

The setting of a sun god

January 2, 2018

There were no less than three sexual harassment stories in Tuesday’s New York Times.

A story headlined “300 Strong: Hollywood Women Unite to Fight Harassment” detailed the agenda of the new Time’s Up initiative, which includes a legal defense fund, already backed by $13 million in donations, to protect underprivileged women “from sexual misconduct and the fallout from reporting it.” The initiative is also calling for women to turn the Golden Globes’ red carpet Sunday into a bully pulpit as they don basic black to talk about the sexual harassment issue instead of what they’re wearing. ...

The Darwinian theory of Al Franken

December 11, 2017

Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, is resigning from the U.S. Senate, and many folks are none too happy about it – not the least of whom is Al Franken himself.

In a farewell address that was nothing less than bitterly ironic, Franken wondered why he was going while the P-Grabber in Chief remained in the White House.

He’s staying and you’re going, Al, for the same reason that men harass women: One has the power. The other doesn’t. ...

Is sexual harassment lookist?

December 7, 2017

In Larry David’s extremely awkward “Saturday Night Live” appearance a few weeks back, he worried that the recent rash of sexual predators was all Jewish – which is not true, but anyway, what I thought he was going to say was that they were all unattractive. (This was before Matt Lauer and Peter Martins, ballet master in chief of New York City Ballet, were added to the list of sexual harassers.) ...