Dr. Seuss created the character 50 years ago today.
I swear, I didn't know that when I wrote the titles to the last two posts!
Morning Edition investigated the genesis of The Cat this morning.
Happy Birthday, Cat in the Hat!
Fish and chips have been supplanted by chicken tikka masala as Britain's favorite dish. And now comes the news that the country's South Asian wave has hit the theater and popular culture. The BBC reports Bollywood dancing has really caught on in Yorkshire.
White English youths are crazy about it in this northern county. We're talking about James Herriot territory, here! The land of Siegfried, James and Tristan!
Young Yorshire folk love Bollywood dancing, described as "a fusion of Indian classical dancing with Western dance moves".
"It's exciting, its physically testing, it's graceful and above all it's fun," says one teenager, auditioning to dance in a play called Bollywood Jane.
Alastair Lawson writes, "It seems as if the people of Yorkshire have embraced Bollywood with the same kind of enthusiasm that many cricket fans in India have for the batsman Geoffrey Boycott. The mention of his name in India still prompts the refrain of "eh up Geoffrey".
Relations between the two cultures have not always been cordial. I was reminded of this recently when I watched David Lean's A Passage to India, and re-read E.M. Forster's novel of the same title. Another recent movie night, I discovered Lagaan, a good example of the ambigious relationship between the Indians and their colonizers. Still, the cultural flow of ideas between the two peoples has been rich, with examples ranging from mundane to profound. Did you know it was the British who are responsible for the word curry? Hard to imagine curry coming from anyone but Asians, isn't it?
Indian song and dance seem an excellent addition to Britain's culture.
One of my favorite movies, Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice, successfully translated a beloved English novel into the Bollywood idiom. Director Mira Nair brought some Indian elements into her film of Thackeray's Vanity Fair. That may have betrayed authenticity, but the result was visually very appealing.
Very much my cuppa chai.
Wow!
Ow.
Wish I could take credit for the great headline, but it's by Slate's Daniel Gross.
The piece is about Tuesday's sharp plunge in the markets.
Read the article here.
Could this gain the same notoriety of the Variety headline in 1935, Sticks Nix Hick Pix?
Viva assonance!
I would never dream of going to a place like Robert's Steak House on West 45th Street in Manhattan, for any number of reasons. But I always enjoy good, funny writing. Frank Bruni's review carries the wonderful heading, "Where Only the Salad is Properly Dressed."
Every now and then we get a news story about live babies found abandoned, sometimes in disgusting places - dumpsters, public bathrooms. What’s most surprising is when these cases take place in states such as Washington, where there is a “safe haven” law.
This law permits a person -- usually a parent -- to abandon a newborn baby at certain places, such as hospitals, police stations or firehouses. The first state to enact the law was Texas, in 1999. As of 2006, all but 4 states had similar laws, bearing names such as Safe Place, Baby Moses Law, Safe Arms for Newborns, Safe Delivery, Safe Surrender.
In Washington state, the law states a baby up to 3 days old may be abandoned without penalty if given to an employee or volunteer at a fire station or hospital. With such a shield, it's hard to know why people continue to dump their infants anywhere other than the places specified. Ignorance? Sheer callousness? Who's to know.
This sort of thing goes back to Biblical times, when Pharoah ordered the drowning of every newborn Hebrew boy. The mother of Moses put him in a basket, nestled it in the reeds in the Nile. He was found and adopted, by no less than Pharoah's daughter.
The Middle Ages devised the “foundling wheel” which allowed women to deposit their offspring without being seen.
And now technology has transformed the foundling wheel in Italy. It's a sophisticated system to provide for the safety of abandoned newborns. In today’s New York Times, Elisabetta Povoledo writes:
“Now a Rome hospital, the Casilino Polyclinic, has introduced a technologically advanced version of the foundling wheel — not at all a wheel but very much like an A.T.M. booth. For the first time a new mother left her baby there on Saturday night, and on Monday the child, a boy about 3 months old, was doing well.”
"The baby was deposited in a small structure equipped with a heated cradle and lifesaving instruments, including a respirator.
"As in bygone days, it is possible for a woman to leave a baby without being seen, but the moment the child is abandoned an alarm goes off in the hospital’s emergency room, ensuring that the baby receives immediate first aid from a team of specialists."
Here’s the whole article: Updating an Old Way to Leave the Baby on the Doorstep.
I found this interesting: Povoledo says, "many common family names in Italy can be traced to a foundling past: Esposito (because children were sometimes “exposed” on the steps of a convent), Proietti (from the Latin proicio, to throw away) or Innocenti (as in innocent of their father’s sin)."
And back to Washington state: just last month, a baby was abandoned on the steps of a Mount Vernon church. Here’s the Seattle Post Intelligencer’s report.
Here are some links:
Safe Place for Newborns
religioustolerance.org
(Their page on this topic has information on the history, enactment and effectiveness of safe haven laws.)
What a pleasure to host another concert of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony. Maestro Marty Zyskowski conducted a great program. It opened with Sousa's Liberty Bell March, which was used as the opening them of Monty Python's Flying Circus. As I told the audience, that piece was written with the title of The Devil's Deputy. It didn't sit well with Sousa's band manager. The name change was a good idea!
After the opening, the Wenatchee High School Percussion section, clad in their purle and yellow uniforms, came onstage with their director Jim Kovach, to join in John Williams's music for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The scoring also called for a celeste and piano. This was the only piece keyboardist Jill had to be perform that night.
The orchestra made us feel nostalgic with The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Mancini Memories with selections from Breakfast at Tiffany's and Hatari.
In researching Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld I discovered that the operetta was even funnier than I remembered - in fact, it's a complete send-up of the Greek legend. In this version, Eurydice is not in love with Orpheus. So much so she’s having an affair with someone else! She moans and complains and tries to get out of her relationship, which is fine with Orpheus, who's much more in love with his fiddle....but a character named Public Opinion will not stand for it. So Orpheus is forced to get rid of his wife's lover. But in the madcap attempt, Eurydice dies as an unintended event. Orpheus is quite all right with it, but Public Opinion is decidely not. Now Orpheus he has to go into Hades and get Eurydice back.
It's truly a madcap romp from Mount Olympus to Hades and back, and the operetta gave us lots of catchy melodies. Who among us isn't tempted to hum along to the Can-Can?
After intermission, the WVS gave an excellent performance of Dvorak's 9th Symphony, better known as the New World Symphony. As I told the audience, it was written in the late 1800s, when there wasn't a distinctly American form of classical music. New Yorker Jeanette Thurber did some pretty clever fundraising to start the National Conservatory to pursue this. Ironically, they hired a Czech to create this American sound! But what a sound. People who heard the spiritual "Going Home" would say, "oh, that's where Dvorak got that lovely theme." Fact is, the melody was written by Dvorak, and borrowed to create the spiritual! What a gorgeous melody. No wonder this is One Of The Most Beloved Symphonies Ever Written.
A lively encore of Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever closed another great concert.
Then, it was time for coffee and dessert.
And time to visit with listeners.
Above: That's our station manager Roger Johnson in the black suit, with listeners taking a look at our display with pictures of radio personalities, both national hosts and those at Northwest Public Radio.
Above: I spoke to longtime NWPR supporters and classical music fans Larry and Penny Tobiska.
We couldnt' have put on the reception without the help of volunteers. Thanks, guys!
Here are some of those terrific volunteers, with our Woman in Wenatchee, Rita Brown (with the name tag.)
For all the exuberant performances and humor in the music, though, there was a tinge of sadness around the edges of this evening. The concert was dedicated to a member of the symphony, violinist Angela Schuster Svendsen. The former Young Artist winner was killed in a car accident this month. Angela was 31.
I was also very sad to hear that conductor Marty Zyskowski's wife Char is struggling with cancer. I met Char last year and enjoyed chatting with her. She's a cheerful, sunny woman. This illness is very hard on her as well as for Marty. You are both in my thoughts and prayers.
Prayers and good thoughts also to my Northwest Public Radio colleague in Wenatchee, sales executive Kathy Allen, undergoing treatment for brain cancer. Kathy was previously with the Wenatchee Downtown Association before joining us in October last year, and is a well-known person in Wenatchee. She's mother of a toddler, and sister-in-law to a former NWPR employee, Kelly Allen (you may remember her show, Saturday Jazz.) An account has been set up for Kathy at People's Bank. If you'd like to make a donation, you can do so at any branch. It's really been heartbreaking to all of us at NWPR; needless to say, we're all rooting for you, Kathy.
And looking ahead now to the final concert of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony's 60th year: that will be on April 15th, with pianist Dr. Jody Graves. The birthday celebration begins with a silent auction at 6PM, and of course, there'll be cake! So, good folks of Wenatchee, turn out and help your great orchestra have a successful fundraiser. They get better every time I hear them, and with your support, they can continue to bloom and grow, bloom and grow, for-e........ver...... (Well, they were playing Edelweiss tonight! I get my inspiration where I can.)
A headline in South Korea: Olympic skier Toby Dawson, adopted by an American couple at an orphanage in Seoul when he was three years old, has been reunited with his biological father. Dawson's adoption story received international attention when he won the bronze in Moguls At the Turin Olympics in 2006. That's when dozens of South Koreans came forward, claiming to be his biological parents (Don't they know about DNA testing?) The BBC reports Dawson has "mixed feelings" about meeting the bus driver who says Toby was stolen from him at a street fair.
Costco is tightening its money-back return policy on electronics, because the wholesaler (based in Issaquah, WA) was losing "tens of millions of dollars" in returns. Read the full story in the Seattle P-I.
Krispy Kreme is now making WHOLE WHEAT doughnuts! No word on what the glaze will contain. I saw this Associated Press story on the Washington Post.
Pizza burger, burger pizza. Pizza taco, taco pizza. More and more, restaurant chains are offering mashups of unhealthy food options, making them even unhealthier in the process. Health and nutrition advocates call these creations hybrid horribles. Here's the Los Angeles Times report.
I missed the Oscar show last night, while having a great time with the Wenatchee Valley Symphony (more on that coming, soon as I get a hold of some pictures from the evening.) Caught some news clips on TV this morning, and was happy to see a royal pair of wins, so to speak: Forest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland, and Helen Mirren for The Queen.
As stars go, Dame Helen is in a constellation all her own, as far as I'm concerned. It's somewhat strange that for her supreme acting, she hasn't been awarded an Oscar till now. I was absorbed in her brilliant, multi-dimensional performances, among them as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in the Prime Suspect series, as Ayn Rand in The Passion of Ayn Rand, and in Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, and lately, as queens Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II.
But there's so much to enjoy about Helen Mirren apart from her supreme craft. There's always a cheeky sense about her, of which I caught a glimpse on Oprah's day-after-the-Oscars show.
(image from from oprah.com)
See her black T-shirt in this photo? I couldn't make out everything on it, but did decipher these words in a close-up shot:
lah dee dah
As Meryl Streep sang out upon meeting Helen Mirren recently, "There's Nothing Like a Dame!"
I'm off to Wenatchee tomorrow to emcee a concert of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony tomorrow. While the Oscars are being presented, Marty Zyskowski conducts a program of "Classics, Movies and More!" John Williams, Henry Mancini, Rodgers and Hammerstein - along with Dvorak's New World Symphony and the overture to Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld."
It's a four-hour drive to Wenatchee, but I always look forward to getting out into our listener communities.
Northwest Public Radio is treating concert-goers to post-symphony dessert and coffee, so if you're able to join us at the Wenatchee High School auditorium starting at 7PM (Sunday), please stop by and say hello.
The New York Times reports in Sunday's edition that the Delta Zeta sorority was so concerned about what DePauw students perceived about that house on the Indiana campus, it was moved to action.
Sam Dillon writes:
"Worried that a negative stereotype of the sorority was contributing to a decline in membership that had left its Greek-columned house here half empty, Delta Zeta’s national officers interviewed 35 DePauw members in November, quizzing them about their dedication to recruitment. They judged 23 of the women insufficiently committed and later told them to vacate the sorority house.
"The 23 members included every woman who was overweight. They also included the only black, Korean and Vietnamese members. The dozen students allowed to stay were slender and popular with fraternity men — conventionally pretty women the sorority hoped could attract new recruits. Six of the 12 were so infuriated they quit.
“Virtually everyone who didn’t fit a certain sorority member archetype was told to leave,” said Kate Holloway, a senior who withdrew from the chapter during its reorganization."
What on earth were they thinking, that being overweight or a racial minority amounts to a negative image?
Dillon writes:
"Asked for clarification, the sorority’s public relations representative e-mailed a statement saying its actions were aimed at the “enrichment of student life at DePauw.”
Well, can't wait to see how they explain that one.
Now that Delta Zeta's actions have caught national attention, that ought to take care of any "negative stereotype", then, eh?
Here's a link to the whole article.
All it takes a few warm, sunny February days, and people start thinking of spring. You see them buying seed packets and little potting trays.
Ah, the folly. Every year the false promise of spring dupes many of us into putting away the parka and snow shovel a few weeks too early.
Yesterday the Inland Northwest saw a resurgence of winter weather, with snow and rain across the region. Still, residents of the Palouse were not quite prepared for heavy snow that blanketed the area rapidly in the afternoon. I was sitting in a doctor’s office with my son between 3 and 4, when big snowflakes began swirling. By the time we were done with the appointment, my car was covered with nearly an inch of the stuff!
Last night, I received an e-mail on the subject, from a listener who works on the Washington State University campus in Pullman. It reads, in part:
“…I realize that we have listeners all over the area but I assume it originates here & we like to know what weather to expect. Like today, we received no warning of this, pardon the pun, ‘coldsnow’.”
This, in part, was my reply:
“...to your complaint that I did not give any warning of snow in the afternoon, let me show you the 4AM National Weather Service forecast for the Palouse, which I used to prepare my announcement:
IDZ003-WAZ033-222300-
IDAHO PALOUSE-WASHINGTON PALOUSE-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MOSCOW...PULLMAN
402 AM PST THU FEB 22 2007
TODAY: SNOW IN THE MORNING...THEN RAIN OR SNOW BY MIDDAY.
SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ABOVE 2500 FEET THIS MORNING. (emphasis mine.) HIGHS IN THE LOWER 40S. SOUTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH IN THE MORNING SHIFTING TO THE WEST IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 90 PERCENT.
As you can see, there was no indication that the area would be hit hardest with snow in the afternoon. In fact, I was out with my young child when the snow began coming down hard, caught unawares as many other people were.”
I forgot to tell the listener that the updated forecast issued at 6:30AM showed no change to the forecast; that only came at 3:30PM:
IDZ003-WAZ033-231145-
IDAHO PALOUSE-WASHINGTON PALOUSE-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MOSCOW...PULLMAN
332 PM PST THU FEB 22 2007
TONIGHT: MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH NUMEROUS SNOW SHOWERS THROUGH EARLY EVENING...THEN SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW ACCUMULATION NEAR AN INCH MAINLY ABOVE 2000 FEET. LOWS IN THE MID 20S. WEST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 70 PERCENT.
But get this: a snow advisory for the Palouse, sent at – 7PM!!!
IDZ003-004-WAZ033-230600-
/O.CON.KOTX.SN.Y.0011.000000T0000Z-070223T0600Z/
IDAHO PALOUSE-CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS-WASHINGTON PALOUSE-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...MOSCOW...ST. MARIES...KELLOGG ...PINEHURST...OSBURN...WALLACE...MULLAN...PULLMAN
658 PM PST THU FEB 22 2007
...SNOW ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING ABOVE 2500 FEET...
At my house just east of Moscow, the snow was pretty much done by the time that advisory was issued. Then again, I don't know what conditions were in the areas to the north of the Palouse named in the advisory, and they may well have had to deal with snowfall until 10PM. More on my reply to the Pullman listener:
“Had the weather service revised its forecast at any point during my shift (which ends at 9AM), the information would most certainly have been announced. I take this responsibility seriously, but the reality is, I am not a meteorologist; I depend on forecasts from the National Weather Service for information to relay to listeners.”
I’ve worked at Northwest Public Radio for 14 years now, and the subject of HOW to deliver weather forecasts has been a big debate the whole time. Just take a look at the size of our coverage area, and that explains part of the problem. If we had unlimited time to discuss the weather vagaries from Puget Sound to the Blue Mountains, from British Columbia to the Camas Prairie of Idaho, that would be one thing: but in radio, we have so much to say and so little time in which to do it. Live and die by the clock!
That said, many's the afternoon I've taken my dogs on a long walk, following a whole morning announcing a forecast of partly sunny skies. I've ended those afternoons drenched, shivering...and absolutely mortified.
So, the meteorologists have some ways to go toward accuracy, though I'll say they do a good job most of the time. With all their fancy satellite images and moving maps, it's hard to remember they don't control the speed and direction of a jet stream!
That being said, I am always open to comments and suggestions. REALLY.
Meantime, you can follow this link to the latest weather forecast for your area on the Northwest Public Radio website.
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As I prepped for my shift this morning with the BBC World Service in the background, my ears perked up at the mention of La Scala. The host was saying the world's premiere opera house has all sorts of rules, such as: you can’t wear purple there (I wish he said why!), and no encores, except on special days.
Bear in mind, an encore in an Italian opera house is not the same as an encore in most places – that is, at the very end of the concert. Rather, their version of an encore (a French word) is called bis (the Italian word for again, as in biscotti, the twice-baked cookie.) The bis is done in the manner of an instant replay. The audience doesn’t want to wait for the very end of the opera (or even an act of the opera). So with prolonged applause, cheering and calls of “bis! bis!” the conductor picks up the aria again, and the singer pipes up - this time usually out of character. I’ve read that the bis has been requested at the end of a death scene, which entails the now-dead character resurrecting temporarily to appease audience demand, then reassuming the death pose when the opera action resumes. As I’ve noted in previous posts, ludicrousness is just one of the things that make me love opera so! But Toscanini hated the way these encores broke the flow of an opera and put a ban on the practice.
Anyway, back to this week’s breach of the 74-year old bis ban.
On Tuesday night’s performance of La Fille du Regiment by Donizetti, rising Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez stirred the La Scala crowd in the aria Ah mes amis that has NINE high C’s! Count them! The applause went on for four, five minutes. The conductor caved. Picked up the baton, Juan let ‘er rip – and Toscanini rolled in his grave.
The BBC talked to opera critic Michael White about the incident this morning. He’s always very entertaining. He said Juan Diego Florez has immense appeal. “He looks like Errol Flynn,” said White.
As a point of comparison, White mentioned another top-notch young tenor, the Mexican Rolando Villazon, every bit as accomplished as Diego Florez. But, White said, he's not likely to cause the same stir, because "he looks like Mr. Bean!”
You decide.
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When I first saw today's Morning Edition rundown and came across the piece about plans to build a cheerleader hall of fame, my first response was to roll my eyes and mutter "oh, PLEASE.". When Bruce Bradberry came in for his shift, he scoffed considerably more.
Before I joined in, I caught myself and remembered discovering there's more to cheerleading than meets the eye. I was thinking about the TV series called "Faking It." It was on a few years ago, first on BBC America, then on TLC. Individuals are given one month to transform completely--punk musician morphs into classical conductor, burger flipper steps into the role of gourmet chef, web surfer turns wave surfer, and (my favorite) sheep shearer turns hairdresser. I found the stories instructive and thoroughly entertaining.
One TLC episode threw a bookish Harvard grad student into the dizzying (tempted to say "ditzying"?) world of cheerleaders for the Atlanta Falcons. Her initial attitude was not unlike Bruce's and mine this morning - that is, barely concealing disdain. Her lack of enthusiasm and interest for cheerleading was evident, and she put in the corresponding amount of effort into her task. Needless to say, she was then forced to hear her mentor's pronouncement of disappointment, and pleas to "try harder!" "I believe in you!"
To the best of my recollection, the young woman learned just how hard it is to jump around in unison with the other women who bounded across the field with the surefootedness of mountain goats, beaming broadly from ear to ear, all the while remembering every bit of the routine and executing it perfect time. I do remember her realization, with humility, how difficult it is to do even a short routine, and not look like a complete fool. All her preconceived notions of airheads, ditzes and so on - out the window. At the end, experienced judges had to observe 4 cheerleaders, and figure out which one was the fake - and the Harvard faker successfully slid under their radar. She looked truly proud of her accomplishments in her month of faking it.
So - even knowing that cheerleading is a lot harder than meets the eye, why do so many people still maintain a whiff of scorn? I suspect it's not the activity, it's the stereotype of the people it draws. Maybe it's because the women who participate (and it is, still, largely a female activity) are so perfectly ripped, bleached and tanned that we think that's all they do, work on looking great. Maybe it's the scandals, such as the Texas mom who hired a hit man to kill a junior high school cheerleader so her daughter could get a spot on the squad. Maybe it's because those of us who just can't get excited about sports don't see the point of it all. Any thoughts to share?
I'm still learning - walk a mile in another's shoes before passing judgement. (But can't I at least roll my eyes at the kind of shoes they're wearing before slipping them on?)
At any rate, there seems to be no shortage of interest in cheerleaders/ing in popular culture. In movies, there's "Bring It On" (2000) and "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom" (1993), to name just a couple. And on TV, next month, a new reality series, Cheerleader Nation, returns for another season on Lifetime, billing itself a "real-life mother-daughter drama of blood, seat and tears." Rah rah rah.
Our first full day in Milan, we toured the Duomo, the Galleria, La Scala and viewed Leonardo's great fresco. A short stroll from Santa Maria delle Grazie, we found ourselves ready for lunch in the city.
On one of the streets we found a casual restaurant bedecked in pastels, bearing the somewhat improbable name "Playtime." When the restaurant owner saw Arianna, he beamed and directed his staff to serve us with deep-fried zucchini blossoms. 
We had a very polite Chinese waiter. It was a little dissonant to be conversing with a person of my own race in Italian, in which neither of us was fluent. Yet it was the only language we had in common. The waiter spoke no English, and his Chinese dialect was not familiar to me at all. Still, we understood each other very well in Italian, and I was extremely pleased with my prawn and aritchoke risotto.
Aesthetically, though, my risotto could not measure up to the insalata di polpi, octopus salad. Blaine took this picture of his lunch:
Sidebar: If you want to really get to know octopus, I suggest you read about Miss Sueann Ramella's octo-orgy in South Korea.
Isn't that pink tablecloth gorgeous?
One other note on the Chinese in Italy: Sandi and Blaine made it to a Chinese restaurant in Genoa, where they were served breadsticks - and a sweet-and-sour dipping sauce. (When in Rome....) They ordered moo goo gai pin, but the restaurant staff couldn't decipher that! When speaking Chinese, it's all in the four tones - five tones in some dialects.
All this drama made me remember heearing, in Milan, that there is a secret passageway between La Scala and the Duomo. Word is, Toscanini used it as a quick getaway from divas' jealous husbands!
Roberto Alagna's wife, the Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, is also known for her diva displays. The New York Times writes:
"Mr. Alagna’s wife, Angela Gheorghiu, has just withdrawn from a Royal Opera production of “Don Carlo” in London next season. A company spokesman said she was “uncomfortable” with the role.
"The couple have had their problems in the past. Ms. Gheorghiu refused to wear a blond wig during a Metropolitan Opera tour of “Carmen” in Japan and was replaced by her understudy for a performance. The Met also withdrew a contract for the couple for “La Traviata,” apparently over a dispute about the set design. They have since been invited back."
I've read Roberto and Angela are called ``the Bonnie and Clyde'' of opera, and Gheorghiu has been called 'Draculette.'
But unlike Alagna, Ms. Gheorghiu is a darling of La Scala. So when her husband threatened that the both of them would withdraw from performances there, she can't have been too happy.
Wouldn't you love to be fly on their wall? Impromptu opera!
The end of the now-infamous Aida performance brought a 9-minute ovation, much of it for the man who took Roberto Alagna's place after the insulted tenor stormed off stage.
Antonello Palombi went on stage still dressed in jeans and a long black shirt. Why wouldn't an understudy have been fully prepped to step into the role at a moment's notice? Curious, don't you think?
Get this: apparently, Palombi was the third understudy in line! Was he just a lot quicker on the draw than the first understudy, was in full costume? Was #1 snoozing, and therefore losing this grand opportunity? All that press!
Three understudies - that we know of. Just how deep of a bench do they have at La Scala, anyway? And remember: the Italian government pays for 90 percent of La Scala's costs! Tickets account for only ten percent of its operating budget. No fundraising. This public radio employee is beyond green with envy!
Here's Corriere della Sera's report, in English, on the December 9th drama.
Gillian Coldsnow
No tempest in a teacup, this. Tenor Roberto Alagna, singing Radames on Sunday night (December 9) just couldn't stomach the boos coming from the tough loggionisti (balcony spectators) at La Scala and stomped off the stage, leaving his leading lady to struggle through the duet by herself.
Everyone's talking about it. Even people who don't care for opera have heard about it. It seems that the diva tantrums of yore really don't happen very much these days (oh, wait, of course, there WAS Kathleen Battle) - so that this big tenor hissy fit made news all over the world.
I found a blog of an opera lover in Milan who gives all the dirt, and then some (!) on this incident and its continuing fallout. Read Opera Chic for some good old-fashioned opera-drama-behind-the-scenes!
I really love what one opera critic said on the BBC. When asked why Alagna would jeopardize his career by stomping of the stage of THE temple of opera, the critic said, "well, tenors are notoriously fragile creatures."
Gillian Coldsnow
The La Scala season always begins on December 7th, because it's the feast day of Milan's patron saint, Ambrose.
Don't even think about trying to score tickets for the star-studded affair, which rivals any Hollywood red carpet affair.
The opening show? Possibly Italy's most beloved opera, Verdi's Aida. Director Franco Zeffirelli says it's the best production of Aida La Scala has ever seen.
THE STANDING OVATION LASTED 15 MINUTES.
Was it, as Playbill writes, "the Aida of Aidas?"
Since I couldn't be there (boo!! hisss!!!) I'm sending you to the Beeb for pictures.
Above: What is distracting Sandi and Ljiljana? It was early and there were few other people in the square at that hour.
Our first full day in Italy took us to Milan's Piazza del Duomo. (Aaaaaargh!! Get those bloody pigeons off me!!) Between the ornate cathedral and the statue of Italy's king Vittorio Emmanuele, our guide for the day, Marica, gave us a primer on the city's complicated list of rulers. She pulled people from the crowd to stand in for Milanese dukes, Austrian princesses, French kings and the like, as she narrated. She had to use almost every person in the large group to get through the presentation!
Above: Marica picks Blaine to represent the first Duke of Milan.
Prada purse slung over her shoulder, Marica told us (in a wonderful Cockney accent with German and Italian inflections!) Milan was first ruled by lords from the house of Della Torre, then the lords of the house of Visconti.
To the best of my memory, the tenth Visconti ruler gave himself the ducal title, making him to Duke of Milan #1.
The son who became Duke #2 continued a legacy of cruelty, for which he was assassinated.
His brother became Duke #3. This guy had no sons, so hired a mercernary for battlefield duty. He was happy to have a good warrior on staff, and to make sure this soldier didn't freelance with other states, #3 offered his six-year old daughter in marriage. Never mind that this soldier, Francesco, was 24 years older than the child. Never mind that Francesco was already married.
To cut a long story short: #3 dies, last of his line. Buh-bye, Viscontis. Francesco marries the child, becomes Duke #4 and establishes his own dynasty. Hello, Sforzas. Your name will always be associated with Milan, and the castle Francesco builds, bearing your name, will be one of the city's best-known landmarks, the Castello Sforzesco.
And thus begins the Ambrosian Republic (named for the city's patron saint.)
Francesco's son in Duke #5. We think he poisoned his mother, a pretty tough chick who kept her finger in Milanese politics. He's nasty. He's assassinated.
The title goes to his 7-year old brother. Duke #6 obviously isn't ready for ducal duty, so his uncle does the job. #6 mysteriously dies from poisoning (oh, the rumor mill had quite a workout that year!)....
And Uncle Lodovico becomes Duke #7. He loses Milan to the French!! Then the Swiss get involved, Milan goes back to #7 - briefly. Then it goes back to the French. Then it goes to Lodovico's son....
Maximilian Sforza is Duke #8.
Thereafter, it was French rule, Spanish rule, Austrian rule, rule by the Holy Roman Empire - not necessarily in that order.
The only reason I remember as much of the history lesson as I do, was because of Marica's very lively and informed presentation - in three languages. Since our group was combined with two other groups for the morning, there were Spanish, German and English speakers, and Marica repeated each chapter effortlessly in each of those languages.
Coming from Milan with its rich multi-cultural heritage, it's no wonder its citizens, such as Marica are such accomplished multi-linguists! Arianna, also a Milanesa, speaks English, French, Spanish and Swedish, and the Milanese dialect.
Milan's colorful political history stablized (at least temporarily) under the reign of King Vittorio Emanuel II, who united Italy.
This statue of Vittorio Emanuele (Aaaaaargh!! Get those bloody pigeons off me!!) is one of the main features of the Piazza del Duomo, and the incredible Galleria that links the Duomo and La Scala piazze is also named for him.
Here are links to my earlier Milan posts:
The Duomo and Galleria
Saturday afternoon in the Piazza del Duomo
On the roof of the Duomo
Gillian Coldsnow
