Filianoti Rawks Out to Donizetti in his Skivvies

Donizetti's fabulous little elixir of love, Io già m'immagino, sung by Giuseppe Filianoti in his underwear, proves that yes -- you actually can dance to classical music. You'll look silly, but by gawd it can be done. The Bayerische Staatsoper hosts a new production of L'elixir by David Bösch on Tuesday, December 1 with Nino Machaidze as Adina and Nemorino as Giuseppe Filianoti.

Comments

[Purity]

OMG funniest thing I have seen in years... Thank you! Step back Travolta the Opera Boyz are coming...

[Coloratura Tempura]

WANT

[Willym]

Caruso would never have done this!!!! And first prize goes to anyone who can guess how many socks he's used as stuffing!

[vale]

Disgusting and of very dubious taste!

[Amber]

LOL

[Belter Jour]

Geez, is this what opera staging has come to?
At least he had an ok bod.

[ciociosan]

yum

[C.S.]

Willym do not be that cynical! Why do you care that much about his genitals? What is YOUR problem?

[yappy]

Oh, thanks for the laugh! In a very silly way, it works.
For some more hilarious opera dancing, watch this: Keenlyside & co. in Zurich Don Giovanni

[fignaz]

Sorry, but he looks to me just like Rob Schneider in Ace Bigelow: Male Gigolo....

[Juana La Loca]

Nino sounds exquisite ... as always!!!!

[Les Mitchell]

Could anyone here imagine what Pavarotti would have looked like in this scene? Seriously, I think it's kind of silly, but I don't find this staging anywhere NEAR as bad as others I've seen posted on these pages of OC. Besides, Filianoti has a good figure, looks plausible, and gets away with it. This may not be in the best of taste, but it's certainly FAR from the worst we've seen in opera stagings. To me, the Met's "Sonnambula" of last year was much worse.

[Willy]

C.S. - no problem just commenting in what I hope had been a light-hearted manner much in the way I assumed OC had meant it to be taken. And what may I ask, without the capitals, is your problem?

[Despina]

This is such a silly, embarrassingly empty-headed Nemorino that NO woman could fall for him, IMHO. Poor Adina! and poor Filianoti...

[Elvis fan]

This performance reminds me of a British comedian called Benny Hill - and believe me this is NOT a compliment!

[tommi]

singers should just refuse to do things like that on stage. If they all said noooooo, these criminal directors would be out of work.this is really a shame and an embarrasment

[LIANE]

What is the idea of him being in underpants and on top of it making vulgar movements? Because you cannot call this dancing. It is not only ridiculous but must also be embarrassing for the audience. Yes, singers should all get together and refuse such productions and still more so, the audience should also refuse to buy expensive tickets to see such rubbish. I for once would not go, but then this is also not one of my favourite operas. Liane

[WhoDat?]

At least he wasn't wearing a thong.

[nick]

@Liane: buy the dvd of Scotto and Bergonzi from Naples or Florence maybe.... It won't become your favorite opera but it'll give you and idea of what it's really all about!

[La Cieca]

A couple of things here.

First, this clip was taken at a rehearsal, not a performance. The purpose of rehearsal is to experiment (i.e., "Probe") with ideas that may or may not make it into the finished performance. An artist should be praised for having the courage to approach a role in a playful and therefore creative manner.

Second, why is the staging of this scene so far-fetched? Nemorino is still a little drunk from the "elisir," and even more to the point, he believes that the potion has made him irresistible to women. His inhibitions are therefore totally relaxed, and he does what many guys would do under the circumstances: he strips down to his underwear and dances enthusiastically but gracelessly. And even though he's making a fool of himself, the village girls all adore him. But most important of all, he ignores Adina momentarily, and in that moment she perceives him as a kindred spirit: he is as "capriccioso" as she is "capricciosa."

Whether Pavarotti would do this staging or not is irrelevant, because he is dead. Even when this great artist was alive and still performing opera, he was a different personality from Filianoti and therefore should reasonably have been given different direction.

Pavarotti was not averse to performing business onstage that in the abstract could be considered silly or undignified, but in the context of a comic character like Nemorino or Tonio would be consistent with the light tone of the opera.

[Frits B]

Exemplary for the bad taste now shown by most stage directors. I wish it would for once be mandatory for them to read the libretto and follow the intentions of the writer & composer. Opera is not a circus.

[Frits B]

I may be old-fashioned but I really like this better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvpty5OkooI

[LIANE]

@ Nick, thank you for the tip. I will be going to Italy soon and will try to get it. The first time I actually saw Elexir I saw it in Covent Garden with Jose Carreras of whom I had never heard before and was enthusiastic. After this I saw him in La Boheme and loved him just as much. Now for me JK is the ONE and I feel sorry for him that he will be in what seems such a terrible production in Milan. But he will make the best of it as he did with the awful production of Lohengrin in Munich and he will shine.

[Riccardotoo]

This was obviously "not" a working rehearsal.It may very well be a final rehearsal. However, by this time the lighting has been set and you are with orchestra. The direction is pretty much set and the rehearsals are more in the control of the conductor. Rehearsals on mainstage cost money. They are never just given over to the artists to experiment. Maybe to practice, but not to create new staging. Any experimentation would have been done much earlier on in the process on the "Probebuhne" (rehearsal stage). Bad idea's are sometimes just that.

[Maximus]

Now, I couldn't watch the video (it's been removed by the user and probably just hours ago), but I find it hard to believe that whatever dance this was was so obnoxious that it would rile viewers up like this.

It sounds to me, from the other posters, that the man was having fun with a song that is supposed to be fun (hint: it's music, and that's supposed to be a fun pastime). Why does one feel the necessity to remain elitist about opera performance instead of taking it at an enjoyable face value? I can assure you that, when the genre was created in the 1600s, it was not viewed as some sort of serious endeavor by the audiences. In fact, many old operas more resemble TV Soap Operas than the actual TV Soap Operas.

So why does one get so angry that a man acted like a goon in his underwear when he was on-stage? I would have paid extra to see a performance like that.

[D.]

This was a final rehearsal on the stage, no "probe", it was all set, what you see is what you have on opening night eventually. Professional opera works different than amateur cabaret in tranny bars where I am sure lots of "probing" goes on. And on.

[La Cieca]

La Cieca disagrees. Between a final dress rehearsal and the first performance there is still time for the director and artists to make small but significant changes in the production. An example: at the invited-audience final rehearsal of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera earlier this year, the Scarpia pulled off his suspenders and unzipped and lowered his trousers as he sang the line "Tosca, finalmente mia." By the first performance, he kept his pants on.

But, please, don't let me get in the way of all these experts here on operatic style and theatrical practice.

[D.]

Please, get in the way as you wish. But keep in mind that some of us "experts" here do in fact have a career in opera unlike...

[Opera Chic]

O.K. group hug now everybody!