Tenor Walks Off Stage...Angers Possibly Dozens...

There's been a lot of press over the past few days concerning Roberto Alagna and his "take this job and shove it" stunt at La Scala in a production of Aida.

Apparently he was booed by the so called "loggionisti" (it would seem the Italian equivalent of the standing room opera die-hards at the Met) when he began his first aria (Celeste Aida for you novices). He gave the audience a salute, and promptly walked off the stage right in the middle of the music. They had to throw his cover on in his street clothes to keep the scene going.

We'll be discussing this in more depth on tomorrow's show, but I would like to go on the record that I love the idea. The whole truth of the matter will probably come out over the next few days, but the idea of someone just walking off in the face of booes right in the middle of an aria is pretty appealing to me. But then I may be different than most. One of my most treasured performing experiences was when a second show I was in was canceled because nobody showed up to watch! Man was that great!

As far as walking off in mid-performance, what the hell...if they don't want you, why bother? The story going around is that he was the weak link in an otherwise great production (which had opened a day or two before) and that's why they booed. Though the good old NY Times seemed to be pleased with him. Not that they are the final word...

Who really knows why it all happened. The best part has been his comments in the press to defend himself and his actions. He was quoted saying that he though something was in the air before the show started as he saw several people back stage making karate chop motions at him. I have no idea WHAT the hell he means by that...all I know is that he seems pretty crazy and that's great to watch! It's like he's going Tom Cruise on us! All I hope is that this continues for awhile and he turns out to be a major whack-job! At the very least I guess (begrudgingly for my part) we can all be thankful he didn't let loose a stream of expletives ala Michael (Kramer) Richards...

Note...After I wrote all this during the afternoon, I found the clip from the performance...judge for yourself!

The best part is when Peter Jackson comes in and takes over for him...