“Placido Domingo’s eyes watered and his voice quavered. After portraying dozens of characters over a half-century on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, he got emotional being himself,” writes Ronald Blum in Saturday’s (11/24) Associated Press. “ ‘For us, the opera singers, it is just like Frank Sinatra said: New York, New York, if you made it, you made it everywhere,’ the 77-year-old singer from Spain said Friday night when he was honored on stage for the 50th anniversary of his Met debut … on Sept. 28, 1968, when he replaced an indisposed Franco Corelli as Maurizio in Cilea’s ‘Adriana Lecouvreur.’ … Domingo’s performance Friday in the title role of ‘Gianni Schicchi,’ the third opera of Puccini’s ‘Il Trittico,’ was his 52nd role and 695th appearance at the Met as a singer and conductor. During a ceremony after the opening opera, ‘Il Tabarro,’ Met general manager Peter Gelb gave Domingo … his leather jacket from a 1990s performance of Verdi’s ‘Otello,’ which had been dipped in gold to mark the golden anniversary. ‘This puts you and Elvis in the same class,’ Gelb said…. Four famous colleagues were recognized from the audience: Martina Arroyo, Sherrill Milnes, Teresa Stratas and James Morris…. Domingo’s wife Marta, son Alvaro and two grandchildren looked on.”
Posted November 27, 2018
