The night SanFran waited up for Domingo
mainOn a very quiet August weekend, the San Francisco Chronicle has rerun a story from 1983 when a late fly-in from New York by Placido Domingo to replace a sick colleague in Otello had the city up way past its bedtime.
‘This is like going to a Jan & Dean concert and being told you were getting to see the Beatles instead,’ quipped one punter. The opera started that night past 10pm and many in the audience were worse the wear for drink.
Read here.
Photo (c) Chris Stewart, 1983, The Chronicle
I remember this night as if it were yesterday. The Herculean Domingo was always up for a challenge. He was at the Met and we helped him get out the door and to the airport that would take him to California. All of this in a pre-high security era when he could be moved quickly to his aircraft. This was also a time when there seemed to be people who worked for airlines, airports, and all along the routes who loved opera, knew Domingo, and were pleased to make special nights like this happen.