IT JUST DOESN'T STOP WITH THE BREAKING NEWS DOES IT?: FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI BRUTALLY SLAMS ALAGNA!

Franco Zeffirelli has never been one to let slander and ridicule remain unacknowledged. He has even gone after the handful of critics that have give his new Aida poor reviews, citing them by name and using his carefully-practiced art of graceful defamation to softly assassinate the offenders.

For this reason, we were all waiting patiently and guardedly for Frengo to make a statement, and just now, FRENGO DELIVERS!!

Il Giornale, has published "LA POLEMICA ALLA SCALA" (The Chasm at La Scala), (Italian language only) Zeffirelli makes his eighty-three-year-old, yet amazingly agile mind, very focused on ruthlessly slamming Alagna. OH SNAP!

ARE YOU READY? Because this is one of the most damning things I've read throughout this entire scandal so far. Basically, Franco Zeffirelli was asked the impression of Alagna's tantrum, and what he thinks of the singer. LET'S GO!!!!!

Zeffirelli: 'Si e' comportato come un ragazzino'
(Translation: [Alagna] was behaving like a little boy)

Franco Zeffirelli says, "What happened? Well: tantrums are part of the business. Alagna had been nervous, a little bit nervous, from the start."

"Radames isn't exactly a role tailor-made for him, and he clearly snapped under pressure. His actions have been very unbecoming of a professional. I cannot justify him, a singer does not need just a voice, he needs a lifetime of discipline. It's unacceptable."

"I'm planning La Traviata with him and his wife, in Rome, next April. She's smarter than he is! I know her well, and we agreed on working together, her and me. But then Alagna got word, and he stepped-in saying, 'I want to sing La Traviata, too!' I told him, 'Okay, you can,' but then he got this whole paranoid syndrome-thing going".

"I am very embarrassed. I don't think I'll accept to work with somebody who offended La Scala in such a ferocious and stupid way."

"His Radames?: In the present market, a true Radames does not exist, so it's useless to search. We have plenty of baritones, mezzos, but there's such a lack of dramatic tenors. In fact, nobody stages Il Trovatore anymore, because we live in the world where you don't have the singers for that kind of role. Alagna's voice is very beautiful, and he rehearsed last summer for me in Orange, and he was convincing, but his temper is too unpredictable."

"In the past, the loggione would have booed even strongly, but those who know musica lirica know that nowadays you have to accept a singer's limitations for a role such as Radames."

"Anyway Alagna's got a stupid temper, like a humorless child, and to me it is unfathomable. An artist can react, but with spirit. I mean, soccer players don't just leave a game if the audience boos them."

"What happens now? Nothing. The two other tenors are excellent. I've worked with both of them already, at the Bolshoi. We go on, with or without Alagna The audience's reaction has been civil: they applauded anyway at the end of Sunday's show. Milanese audiences really have rare qualities."

GO FRENGO!!!!!!!! OMG FRENGO I WANT UR BBEBHBIES!

Classy!

Comments

[Crew Mantle]

Zeffirelli did not mince words!

If I were to read between the lines, he has already spoken to his Violetta... If a man of Zeffirelli's import in the opera world is finished with you, then the best you will do are the provincial houses.

La Scala has changed the Aida web page, but Alagna remains for 3 performances. Regardless if they permit him to sing, he is finished in Milan; their gonna skin him alive in the loggia.

[Opera Chic]

Seriously, Crew Mantle...Zeffirelli has worked and maintained lasting friendships with the greatest directors, conductors, and singers that we will probably ever see in our lifetime...and he just doesn't have to put-up with Alagna's s**t.

I can't believe Franco spoke, though!

[merkel]

To be honest, I feel bad for Roberto. Here was a singer who was once thought to be the Tenor of our generation and was respected. Now, it has all but blown up. it's sad really, and judging by the interview he had, something just doesn't seem right about him. Maybe his hypoglycemia (the disease he has causing all his health problems) has affected his brain now too. I sincerely hope he gets out of this okay, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Opera Chic]

merkel, I feel bad for him, too. At this point, yes. Last night, no...because he was still too cocky. But now he is just a sad shell of a man :( This is pretty bad.

[La Cieca]

Opera Chic, I would respectfully disagree with your statement that Zeffirelli has maintained lasting friendships etc etc. On the contrary his behavior is pretty much self-serving and catty. He has exaggerated and distorted his relationship (such as it was) with Callas to build himself up as a sort of muse to her when in fact it appears that they had a cordial professional relationship for a few months but nothing more. Another example was when he was directing Carmen at the Met: contantly saying in public that he disagreed with the casting of Waltraud Meier (preferring Denyce Graves) and eventually refusing to speak to Meier at all.

[coccodrillo]

No! I love Waltraud!

[coccodrillo]

And Opera Chic is clearly biased pro-Frengo because it rubbed off on her that we all (well, almost all) love Frengo here! He's like the catty, snarky, bitchy rich grandpa with the awesome Roman villa and famous buddies that we all would like to have! he's like the opera version of Gore Vidal, with blue eyes!

GO FRENGO!

:)

[sfmike]

I think Zefferelli is a nasty old queen with a Fascist streak whose movies are mostly bad taste marathons and whose opera productions pretty much define the word "literal." And just about all major operatic tenors are bonkers (Domingo being one of the few exceptions that comes to mind).

So are we loving every last detail of this scandal? Yes, yes, and yes. Thank you, Opera Chic, for being there with all the latest.

[Scarpia Jr.]

Tell me, where does the name Frengo come from? And for the record, I'm not that much of a fan of Zefferelli, I am totally with him on this one.