Superstar Tenor Throws Major Hissy Fit; Walks Off Stage During La Scala Aida

[mega]

''In many years at La Scala I had never seen anything like what happened tonight,'' Chailly told reporters after the performance.

I thought La Scala was famous for that sort of thing. Oh well.

 

[NedNickerson]

I was reading about this production a few days ago. It took me awhile to find the article, but here it is:

http://www.canada.com/topics/entert...=1c70b892-2944-4aaf-8c19-d275ec6fda41&k=15511

MILAN, Italy (AP) - One of the season's most anticipated cultural events, Franco Zeffirelli's production of Verdi's "Aida" opened the La Scala opera season Thursday night.

Zeffirelli's return to La Scala after more than a dozen years created an unprecedented buzz: tickets reserved for sale online for all 11 showings of "Aida" sold out in a record two hours.

The glitz and attention surrounding the season opener underlines La Scala's return to the centre of the cultural scene - and not only in Italy - after several years marked by tension over the landmark opera house's management.

With various government leaders in attendance, security at La Scala was tight - with streets blocked off hours before the doors were to open.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to attend the opening after their working lunch spent on European integration, the Middle East and the Balkans.

Other notable political figures attending were Greek President Karolos Papoulias, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, the French and Italian culture ministers as well as the oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Nigeria.

The guest list continues as an international who's who of stage, sport and business, with British actor Rupert Everett, Italian soccer star Marco Materazzi, designer Donatella Versace, and the CEO of Unicredit, Italy's largest bank, Alessandro Profumo.

Last spring's appointment of Daniel Barenboim as principal conductor of the Milan opera house was aimed at capping a period of tension at the opera house - marked by conductor Riccardo Muti's resignation as music director in 2005 amid difficult relations with the orchestra.

The 83-year-old Zeffirelli, who also designed the sets, is directing his fifth production of "Aida." Having explored the spectral ends of the Verdi classic set in pharaonic Egypt - with a monumental "Aida" at Verona's Arena amphitheatre and an intimate affair in a small Tuscan town - Zeffirelli promises this production to be the "Aida of all Aidas." The Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana is singing the title role while tenor Roberto Alagna is singing the part of Radames.

Zeffirelli's first "Aida" was at La Scala, in 1963.

Zeffirelli designed the sets to be largely transparent - inviting the audience to use its imagination. And the director of opera, stage and film, perhaps most popularly known for his 1968 film "Romeo and Juliet" and the 1977 TV miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth," doesn't miss the chance to create a big impression: The triumphant procession scene includes a cast of more than 300.

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Here's the latest update on Robero Alagna:

No return to Aida for scorned tenor: La Scala

Tenor Roberto Alagna broke his contract by storming off the La Scala stage mid-performance on Sunday after being booed and, despite his wish to return, will not be rejoining Franco Zeffirelli's Aida, a spokesman for the Milanese opera company said Monday.

"It's been brought to our attention Roberto Alagna's intention to return to La Scala for the next performance," spokesman Carlo Maria Cella said.

Tenor Roberto Alagna, playing Radames, performs during rehearsals of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida.


"His behaviour has created a rift between the artist and the audience, and there is no possibility of repairing this relationship."

Cella added that because Alagna had technically broken a contract by voluntarily leaving a production, La Scala's lawyers will be looking at the appropriate action to take.

The opera, one of the European arts community's most anticipated cultural events of the season, went awry Sunday when Alagna's performance was met by boos and whistling from the audience. It was only the second performance of Zeffirelli's latest retelling of the popular Giuseppe Verdi opera.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Alagna seemed unaware that he had been dumped from Aida. He said he was still planning to continue in the remaining performances.
I finished without the slightest error and from the balconies came a 'bravo!' and right after that boos and whistles," the tenor said.

"So I obeyed the audience that demonstrated that it did not want me."

Opera boss scolds audience, tenor

La Scala general manager Stephane Lissner had released an earlier statement that rebuked both the audience and Alagna.

Lissner criticized the incident as "an obvious lack of respect to the public and the theatre," but added that "I have always maintained that artists are at the centre of a theatrical project and we are here to support them, to guarantee the best conditions for them so that they can do their jobs."

Thursday night's opening of Zeffirelli's Aida was a much-anticipated event, with Italian Premier Romano Prodi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in attendance, along with a host of prominent figures from the political, cultural and financial spheres.

Mixed reviews

The audience applauded for more than 15 minutes after the final curtain fell, standing to cheer Zeffirelli, conductor Riccardo Chailly and a cast led by Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana in the title role and Alagna as Radames.

Alagna's performance, though, received mixed reviews from critics.

Sunday's showing ran into trouble just minutes in. Alagna — who was born in France to Italian parents — got off to a "nervous start," according to La Repubblica. Witnesses said the audience erupted in boos and whistles as he began singing the big aria Celeste Aida.

Alagna stopped, looked at the public, then walked off, according to Italian news reports. Understudy Antonello Palombi, still in jeans and without a vocal warm-up, rushed out.

"They literally took me and threw me on stage," Palombi told Italian news agency Ansa after the show. "It was a good test and I passed it."

Lissner apologized to the audience before the opening of the third act.

'Aida of Aidas'

"In many years at La Scala I had never seen anything like what happened tonight," conductor Chailly told reporters after the performance.

The next showing was scheduled for Tuesday night.

Aida tells the story of an Ethiopian princess captured and brought into slavery in Egypt. A military commander, Radames, is torn between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh and in the end is willingly buried alive with Aida.

Calling it the "Aida of Aidas," Zeffirelli has not been shy about hyping his fifth production of the grandiose opera.

The famed director — popularly known for his Oscar-winning 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet and the 1977 television mini-series Jesus of Nazareth — has promised his latest version of Aida will go down in the history of the revered La Scala, where it made its Italian debut in 1872.

The public seemed to agree. Though tickets were priced at up to €2,000 (about $3,035 Cdn), all 11 showings sold out within 24 hours.

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And here's the official website for Antonello Palombi, Alagana's replacement:

http://www.liricopera.com/

 

[unclaimedblessing]

I guess he never heard of the American adage - "the show must go on".
I beleive it was in Mel Tormes' bio of Judy Garland where he stated that Judy was performing one evening in an outdoor amphitheater. The flood lights attracted moths, one of which flew into her mouth as she was hitting the highest notes of "Somwhere Over The Rainbow" and she didn't miss a note (but spit it out off stage).
Now that's a performer, not some self centered primadonna like Alagna.

 

[gaddou]

Pietro what do you think. For myself I think he could just have given them the finger and continue

 

[Michael Luc]

I don't care if the guy threw up all over the stage, it's rude to boo.

 

[NedNickerson]

I've been looking for photos of Antonello Palombi in jeans, but still haven't found anything yet. According to one report I found, he was also wearing a t-shirt. T-shirt and jeans, and singing opera... what a vision that must've been...!

I did, however, manage to find these wonderful photos of the production of Aida with Roberto Alagna.

http://www.teatroallascala.org/publ...pera-e-balletto/01_Aida/fotografie/index.html

The only possibility of finding photos of Antonello Palombi in t-shirt and jeans will be if someone used a camera phone, I suppose, since it was a one-time event...

Stay tuned...

 

[NedNickerson]

FOUND!

http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/2006/12/palombi_we_saw_.html

From http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/2006/12/alagnas_all_lik.html :

(Update: It was reported that replacement tenor Antonello Palombi had to finish Act I in black JEANS and a black T-SHIRT. Poor man...among all that gold fairy-dust and gilded wardrobe, he must have looked absurd!)

And the video:
http://multimedia.repubblica.it/home/503086

 

[NedNickerson]

More videos from YouTube:

 

[james1200]

i know nothing about opera, nor do i give two shits about it but this thread is fascinating anyway, LOL! even the scandals are classy in europe !

 

[mega]

^ Give opera a chance. It can blow your mind!

 

[ComNavFdgPk]

I'd like to posit a theory that, while by no means excuses the boorish behavior of the LaScala audience, might go a long ways toward explaining it. In the first place, you have to understand that, to most Italians, Giuseppe Verdi didn't just write operas. He is a national icon and is held with the same (some say more) respect as the Pope. By that line of reasoning, everything that his pen set to paper is considered "Holy Writ." Which brings us to the aria Celeste Aida in the first act of Verdi's opera. The ending of this aria has been a bone of contention ever since the opera premiered. Verdi's original score has the final line ("un trono vicino al sol") marked as pianissimo. However, the line is part of an ascending triad that ends on a high B-flat. I actually cannot think of any tenor living that has the ability to ping on that note, after the long phrase leading up to it and then hold it as marked at that level. Franco Corelli used to do something that I've never heard any other tenor do. He would hit the high B-flat full voice and then diminuendo to a pianissimo...The thought of which still causes chills to run up and down my back. When Maestro Arturo Toscanini used to conduct performances of Aida, he insisted that, if the tenor was going to ring the high B-flat at fortissimo, then he had to back off and repeat the phrase "Vicino al sol" an octave lower and at the proper level. Which brings us full circle to this weeks performance at LaScala. Unlike American audiences, most European audiences are very knowledgable about what is transpiring on the opera stage. And, therefore, may have felt that Roberto Alagna was not showing the proper deference to their idol. As has been stated earlier in this thread, cliques do exist at LaScala and it can be one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult house, in which to perform.

 

[Just_Believe18]

Wow. Drama at the opera house.

Very entertaining story to read. Thanks for the clips and commentary to explain how this happened.

 

[dr_beat]

I'd like to posit a theory that, while by no means excuses the boorish behavior of the LaScala audience, might go a long ways toward explaining it. In the first place, you have to understand that, to most Italians, Giuseppe Verdi didn't just write operas. He is a national icon and is held with the same (some say more) respect as the Pope. By that line of reasoning, everything that his pen set to paper is considered "Holy Writ." Which brings us to the aria Celeste Aida in the first act of Verdi's opera. The ending of this aria has been a bone of contention ever since the opera premiered. Verdi's original score has the final line ("un trono vicino al sol") marked as pianissimo. However, the line is part of an ascending triad that ends on a high B-flat. I actually cannot think of any tenor living that has the ability to ping on that note, after the long phrase leading up to it and then hold it as marked at that level. Franco Corelli used to do something that I've never heard any other tenor do. He would hit the high B-flat full voice and then diminuendo to a pianissimo...The thought of which still causes chills to run up and down my back. When Maestro Arturo Toscanini used to conduct performances of Aida, he insisted that, if the tenor was going to ring the high B-flat at fortissimo, then he had to back off and repeat the phrase "Vicino al sol" an octave lower and at the proper level. Which brings us full circle to this weeks performance at LaScala. Unlike American audiences, most European audiences are very knowledgable about what is transpiring on the opera stage. And, therefore, may have felt that Roberto Alagna was not showing the proper deference to their idol. As has been stated earlier in this thread, cliques do exist at LaScala and it can be one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult house, in which to perform.

This just goes to show you why so many musicians shun classical for the more creative field of jazz. If the La Scala audiences want the same performance every time, they should stay home and listen to their recordings.