One of the most bizarre moments in the off-the-charts bizarre Roberto Alagna saga, i.e. Alagna's apparent plan to sing a pop song at the horribly lowbrow pop music Sanremo festival will be confirmed in the next few hours, so stay tuned for more breaking news tomorrow.
Now, even if you blind yourself to the obvious lameness of the Festival itself -- no rational opera star of Alagna's stature would appear there unless they willfully decide to jump that crossover shark, like, 4evar -- Alagna's problem is that he has, for the same week in March, a slightly more pressing engagement: he's also scheduled to appear at the Wiener Staatsoper for la prima of Massenet’s Manon, as Opera Chic reported here and here.
Hmmmm. Tough decision there. As a "super-star" lol, Alagna would obviously be asked by the Sanremo producers to appear on the super-popular slot for the evening of Saturday, March 3, 2007, live, smack in the middle of prime time.
However, that is the opening night of the Vienna Manon. It seems as if our good ol' Sicilian boy has overbooked himself (again), and will either piss-off the Viennese or the Sanremesi. As Opera Chic reported last month:
Interviewer: “You accepted the offer to sing at Sanremo, but it will happen the same day of your la prima in Vienna Manon Lescaut [sic: here the Il Giorno journalist makes a mistake: she writes Manon Lescaut, but it’s really Massenet's Manon], and how will you manage to do that?’”
Alagna: “’We shall see: Everything is possible, if one wants…or I can go to Sanremo as a special guest.’”
Make sure to visit Opera Chic tomorrow for the answer to these pressing (well, all is relative) questions.