Tonight's Top Ten

Posted at 6:50 AM on November 8, 2006 by Valerie Kahler
Filed under: The blog

Happily, late-night fans tuning in for Letterman tonight won't be seeing the soon-to-be-ex-Mr.-Britney-Spears pimping his new (and roundly panned) rap recording. No, for the first time, tonight's musical guests won't be pop stars or rock stars.

From the NY Daily News:

Opera buffs can get a sneak peak at the Met's upcoming production of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" (that's "The Barber of Seville" for all of you barbarians) tomorrow on, of all places, "Late Show With David Letterman."

It will be the first time Letterman, an opera fan, has had an opera production as his musical guest. The plan is to have six principal singers and a chorus of 12 with a 22 piece orchestra. The chorus and orchestra will be trimmed by half to fit on the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater, but it will be the biggest musical production "Late Show" has staged.

"Barber" is perhaps one of opera's most recognized works. It opens Friday at the Met, with six performances through Nov. 27.

Metsters Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, Peter Mattei, John Del Carlo, and Samuel Ramey will grace the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theatre with the finale to Act 1 of Barber of Seville, which opens at the Met this Friday.

I know where I'll be tonight at 10:30.