GREAT PERFORMANCES: LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER: ROSSINI, BARBER OF SEVILLE {ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES} (TV)
Summary
One in this series on the performing arts. In this program -- one in a series of live broadcasts from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City -- Sarah Caldwell directs Beverly Sills, Alan Titus, and Henry Price in Gioacchino Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville." The program includes the opera, in two acts, sung in Italian with English subtitles, and one intermission. The program begins backstage with host Dick Cavett introducing the night's performance amidst the last-minute confusion of the performers. Then, Act I begins with an on-screen scrawl summarizing the plot. A nobleman, Count Almaviva, falls in love from a distance with Rosina. Rosina's guardian Dr. Bartola tries to spoil the would-be romance, but Figaro, the town barber, gossip, and matchmaker, aids the Count's cause. Rosina becomes more and more interested in the mysterious Count, trying to shed the watchful eyes of Dr. Bartolo to meet up with him.
During intermission, Dick Cavett interviews Sills, Donald Gramm, and the director of the New York City Opera, Julius Rudel, about the following issues: the significance of costumes; the physical strain of performing opera; the formality of certain opera stars; the opera's mechanical bird; the quality of opera acting; the opera singer's "nightmare"; the tragic 1816 world premiere of "The Barber of Seville"; the tremendous output of Rossini; and Rossini's "recycling." After the intermission, the opera concludes with Act 2, finishing the story of Rosina, the Count, Bartola, and Figaro. There is no on-screen scrawl summarizing the plot.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Edward John Noble Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: November 3, 1976 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:59:15
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:72467
- GENRE: Music; Operas
- SUBJECT HEADING: Operas
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1976-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Goberman … Producer
- Kirk Browning … Director
- Sarah Caldwell … Director, Conductor
- Christopher Porterfield … Writer
- Dick Cavett … Host
- Martin Bookspan … Announcer
- Gioacchino Rossini … Composer
- Cesare Sterbini … Composer
- Beverly Sills … Cast, Rosina, Singer
- Alan Titus … Cast, Figaro, Singer
- Henry Price … Cast, Count Almaviva, Singer
- Donald Gramm … Cast, Don Bartolo, Singer
- Samuel Ramey … Cast, Don Basilio, Singer
- Diane Curry … Cast, Berta, Singer
- William Ledbetter … Cast, Fiorello, Singer
- Don Yule … Cast, An Official, Singer
- Nicholas Muni … Cast, Ambrogio, Singer
- Michael Rubino … Cast , A Notary, Singer