Alagna: I quit...La Scala: G'bye

Posted at 5:55 AM on December 12, 2006 by John Zech
Filed under: The blog

I always thought that getting booed at the opera in Italy just went with the territory. Well, like Prof. Harold Hill, apparently superstar tenor Roberto Alagna "doesn't know the territory." He's a little touchy about being booed while he's performing, and La Scala is a little touchy about him walking off stage. Here's how the Associated Press reported it yesterday:

MILAN, Italy (AP) - An opera singer who stormed off stage after
the audience booed him won't have to worry about the crowd anymore.
The opera house won't let him sing.
Officials at La Scala in Milan, Italy, say Roberto Alagna broke
his contract by walking out during a performance of "Aida" last night.
Even though the crowd apparently wasn't thrilled with his
singing, his exit apparently was a stunner. And the understudy was
caught off-guard, too, since he came rushing on stage in jeans.
Alagna insists there was nothing wrong with his singing, but
that he "obeyed the audience" by leaving when they booed. He was
planning to try again until the La Scala opera house told him to
take tonight -- and every other night -- off.

Now Alagna is saying he's going to be back as Radames again on Thursday night, despite what La Scala has told him. It's got a lot of people talking, and speculating, and issuing press statements. You can read a lot more details and juicy bits on Opera Chic.