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!