There are a lot of
reasons to dislike Placido Domingo. The current mini-uproar is not the
best of them.
Oh, yes, the famous 33%
of the Three Tenors musical clown show was apparently a womanizer. But by
today’s standards, he wasn’t all that evil.
Domingo is not Cosby.
He’s not Epstein. He’s not Weinstein. He’s not trump or the creep at the bar
and his field of targets is a small number. Yes, he’s a big fish in the
small pond called the Opera Industrial Complex.
And yes, by his own admission sometimes behaved boorishly. And sometimes even had sex with women at the
office, some of whom were fearful and reluctant.
The main reason to
dislike Plastico is his stiff delivery, bad acting and mediocre
conducting. As he ages, his voice becomes lower. He’s now singing
baritone roles when he’s not busy playing himself at the conductor’s
podium. Compare him in Verdi’s Macbeth with a newer upcoming star, Zejko
Lucic and you’ll hear the difference.
If you’re not an opera
buff, try Plastico’s duets with John Denver. Yes, they made an album together.
Most opera stars have
built-in weirdness. Most usually, it’s the tenors and sopranos. Callas
was crazy. Caruso drank a lot and refused to rehearse. Pavarotti ate himself
into an early grave, though the actual cause of death was pancreatic cancer.
The world of opera is a
cauldron of cat and dog fights, paranoia, pomposity, one-upmanship,
superstition and bed crawling. We just don’t hear about it because the
audience of appreciators is so small and well to do. And it likes to keep those
things quiet.
After the allegations
became public, Domingo issued a statement that translates roughly as “I didn’t
mean to hurt anyone. And times were different when all this stuff
happened, which it really didn’t.”
There’s a reason opera
houses are smaller than baseball stadiums. The promotors want a packed
house for every performance, while televised baseball doesn’t mind when half
the seats are empty (watch any game that isn’t between two major rivals.
You’ll find plenty of empty space.) MLB revenue doesn’t depend solely on live
human beings attending. They make big
bucks from selling television rights and advertising. Opera depends on ticket
sales and rich donors.
The Metropolitan Opera
televises its performances and puts them on the radio. But the cameras
are glued to the stage and don’t pan the grandstand, so we have no picture of
audience attendance.
But sex in the opera
house raises some questions. Here’s one of them:
We’re interested in
knowing if a cheating tenor and a soprano faking pleasure grunt or squeal in a
key two octaves higher than Middle C.
I’m Wes Richards. My
opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Comments? Here’s
where to send ‘em: wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2019
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