Woody Allen to make La Scala debut
mainThe 2018/19 season rolled out today includes a run of Woody Allen’s production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, originally staged at Los Angeles Opera at Placido Domingo’s behest.
Italian social media are all atwitter about it, although it’s by no means certain the director will attend. He will be 83 in July 2019.
UPDATE: We hear from La Scala that he is expected to attend rehearsals.
Given his own family history Woody should have some unique views as to how to stage the singing of “O mio babbino caro” by Schicchi’s daughter to her beloved father ……..
Some efucation on the case: 2 separate investigations in 2 different states exonerated Woody Allen. His daughter never pressed charges. His son Moses is convinced that Mia Farrow made up the allegation as a retaliation for Woody Allen’s relationship with Mia Farrow’s and André Previn’s adopted daughter.
He is married to the adopted daughter of his ex-partner and his ex-partner’s ex-husband. It’s not particularly gentlemanly to marry your girlfriend’s daughter, but it’s not a crime. As for the other allegations, they were investigated at the time and neither the medical nor the legal experts found any grounds for Woody Allen to be charged. Indeed, he and his wife were soon afterwards permitted to adopt two children, which would not have happened if there had been any realistic suspicion that he had committed child sexual abuse crimes. Nobody else has ever made any similar allegations.
Ouch! – all the way around.
Woody Allen was exonerated over 20 years ago. Look at the facts around the case. Mia Farrow should be in prison for coaching Dylan.
Exactly. Years ago, an old Hollywood executive told me, don’t be taken in by Mia’s ingenue shtick, she is a horrible b…ch.
I was talking to a movie buff who’s about 30 y/o. He says that his peers all believe Woody is a child molester. If any of it were true, wouldn’t somebody else have complained in the 20+ years since the allegation was made? Entirely circumstantial, but Mia’s brother is a convicted pedarest, she supports a pardon for Roman Polanski, her other brother committed suicide, and her sister is a notorious basket case.
And 3 of Mia’s children are dead – 2 of them were suicides.
They say that the difference between melodrama and tragedy is that in tragedy the hero is responsible for his/her own problems.
If Mia Farrow is even partially responsible for some of the problems that her kids are facing it makes the whole situation even more tragic for her.
I do know that Mia Farrow was a major spokesperson of the anti genocide movement in Darfur when I was involved in it and she was instrumental in helping publicize the cause. She visited refugee camps Chad–a difficult trip under harsh conditions
I would love to see it. Woody Allen remains an incomparable humorist, and it is a wonder what he might do with a comic opera. If only he had a Massine to do the choreography. Enough with the slurs and slander based on spurious accusations by nuts. His sex life is none of our business. So he wanted his own Yoko Ono, big deal. His taste in women declines as his talent grows. He is at the top of his ability, the closest thing we have to Charlie Chaplin. So lay off. We need him.
I wholeheartedly agree, Luigi! And especially after Woody’s son Moses published this (http://mosesfarrow.blogspot.com), exactly one week ago, we can clearly see who is crazy in that family.
Perhaps Mia Farrow in Lucia di Lammermoor? She certainly has the insanity for it.
If Ronan Farrow is the biological son of Woody Allen, then Frank Sinatra is the biological son of Groucho Marx.
How f***d up can the Allen-Farrow family be?
Neither Mia Farrow not Sinatra are known for having a genius level intellect, so I doubt they’d have spawned a prodigy.
Funny, Ronin Farrow is literally a prodigy.
A freak genetic accident ? He truly looks like the young Frank …
I saw this Gianni Schicchi in Spoleto with the first cast (Sir Thomas Allen in the lead, Stephen Costello as young lover) and the singing was great. However, the stage setting I found rather odd. It made on wonder why these relatives of Buoso Donati if his house looks as if it would fall apart the next moment?
Later on I read an interview with Sir Thomas in which he said that his namesake behaved rather odd. He was rarely at rehearsals and even when he was there, he didn’t speak to the singers and seemed not very interested in what they were doing.
Now after Placido Domingo has occupied the role of Gianni Schicchi I really wouldn’t want to see the production anymore.
Thomas Allen might not like the production, but at least one opera critic thought it was great.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturereviews/3560199/Bravo-Woody-Allen-the-new-star-of-opera.html
I don’t think Sir Thomas disliked the production, but he obviously wasn’t happy about a director who didn’t care about his singers – and in that I can understand him.
Apparently Woody Allen behaves like that on set of the films he directs too. I think it is just his character and nothing about not being interested in the singers or the staging.
“Later on I read an interview with Sir Thomas in which he said that his namesake behaved rather odd. He was rarely at rehearsals and even when he was there, he didn’t speak to the singers and seemed not very interested in what they were doing”
If, by “namesake”, you mean Woody Allen, none of that would be too surprising. He’s taken a very ‘hands off’ approach in making his more recent films. Some of the actors have stated that he simply shows up, hands them a script, makes one or two suggestions, then takes off.
Semi-retired?
Some would say his more recent movies are semi-retreaded (I actually like most of them).