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Pavarotti Gala
L'Elisir D'amore: Act II
Metropolitan Opera House, Sun, November 22, 1998 Telecast
In Celebration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera debut of Luciano Pavarotti
Pavarotti Gala
L'Elisir D'amore: Act II
Metropolitan Opera House
November 22, 1998 Telecast
In Celebration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera debut of Luciano Pavarotti
PAVAROTTI GALA
L'ELISIR D'AMORE: Act II
Adina...................Ruth Ann Swenson
Nemorino................Luciano Pavarotti
Belcore.................Roberto de Candia
Dulcamara...............Leo Nucci
Giannetta...............Yvonne Gonzales Redman
Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............John Copley
Stage Director..........Elizabeth Bachman
Designer................Beni Montresor
Lighting designer.......Gil Wechsler
TV Director.............Brian Large
LA BOHEME: Act III
Mimi....................Daniela Dessì
Musetta.................Ainhoa Arteta
Rodolfo.................Luciano Pavarotti
Marcello................Dwayne Croft
Officer.................Robert Maher
Sergeant................Kenneth Young
Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............Franco Zeffirelli
Set designer............Franco Zeffirelli
Costume designer........Peter J. Hall
Lighting designer.......Gil Wechsler
Stage Director..........Sharon Thomas
TV Director.............Brian Large
AIDA: Act IV
Aida....................Maria Guleghina
Amneris.................Dolora Zajick
Radames.................Luciano Pavarotti
Ramfis..................Paul Plishka
Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............Sonja Frisell
Set designer............Gianni Quaranta
Costume designer........Dada Saligeri
Lighting designer.......Gil Wechsler
Choreographer...........Rodney Griffin
Stage Director..........Catherine Hazlehurst
TV Director.............Brian Large
Presentation:
Joseph Volpe
Telecast: Metropolitan Opera Presents
Available for streaming at Met Opera on Demand
[At the conclusion of the performance, General Manager Joseph Volpe spoke and presented Luciano Pavarotti with an autograph of Giacomo Puccini with bars of music from Turandot.]
LA BOHEME: Act III
AIDA: Act IV
Presentation:
Joseph Volpe
Telecast: Metropolitan Opera Presents
Available for streaming at Met Opera on Demand
At the conclusion of the performance, General Manager Joseph Volpe spoke and presented Luciano Pavarotti with an autograph of Giacomo Puccini with bars of music from Turandot.
Review 1:
Review of Martin Bernheimer in Opera :
America: Birthday for the Big One
Luciano Pavarotti came back to the Met amid much brouhaha on November 22. But this was no ordinary garden-variety comeback. Pavarotti, now reportedly 63, had undergone hip and knee replacement surgery during the summer. He had cancelled a trio of "Tosca"s here, and his personal life, soap-operatic by any Italian standard, has become fodder for the gossip columnists. Never mind. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his local debut, the fans were out in force, and TV cameras were grinding. In three cautiously chosen acts from three jarringly different operas separated with endless intervals, he performed, alas, like an artist in distress at career twilight. Most of his entrances and exits were made on the arms of costumed assistants. He sat wherever possible, stole sips of water between vocal flights, and sounded uncharacteristically tight and dry. He did muster some ravishing mezza-voce effects, but a muted Pavarotti, it might be argued, is no Pavarotti at all.
The quasi-festivities began with Act 2 of "L'elisir d'amore," selected no doubt so the idol could deliver "Una furtiva lagrima" one more time. He did so with some effort. Elsewhere, he managed to execute a few jerky dance steps, and, occasionally reminding himself that this wasn't a concert, offered some grimaces and gestures that charitable observers might confuse with acting. Ruth Ann Swenson chirped very prettily as his Adina, while Roberto De Candia blustered clumsily as Belcore, and Leo Nucci - a baritone straining to impersonate a basso buffo - worked hard as Dulcamara. James Levine seemed understandably distracted in the pit.
Since Act 3 of "La Bohème" made minimal demands on Pavarotti, the audience could concentrate here on the outrageous kitsch of Franco Zeffirelli's overpopulated postcard publication. Daniela Dessi came all the way from Italy - ask not why - to sing a slightly shrill mini-Mimi, with Ainhoa Arteta and Dwayne Croft (newlyweds) providing stalwart support as Musetta and Marcello. Dolora Zajick offered the most powerful contribution to the afternoon as a tear-out-the-guts Amneris in the Judgment Scene of "Aida." In the tender valedictory that followed, Maria Guleghina nearly choked on the protagonist's ascending pianissimo phrases, but Pavarotti sang Radames with unexpected sweetness and ease.
The response in the house was sentimental if not exactly hysterical. The response in the press was, at best, guarded. Pavarotti, however, must have been pleased. Almost immediately, he announced that he would return to the Met in the spring for three unscheduled "Tosca"s, with Richard Leech, who had replaced him in November, gallantly relinquishing his contracted duties as Cavaradossi.
At a subsequent press conference hailing his forthcoming appearance at the [launching] of a Las Vegas gambling casino, Pavarotti obliquely admitted that his gala performance may have been imperfect. "When a young man falls down in the street" he declared, "they say he stumbled because he was looking at the sky. When a 60-year-old man falls down, if he is well-known, they say it is because he is old."
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