An opera of the famous play.
Director: George Blume
Conductor: Marco Guidarini
Stars: Roberto Alagna, Nathalie Manfrino, Richard Troxell.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472301/
Premiere 1936 (in Italian), Rome
Alfano originally set the text in French, which is how it's performed in this video.
The Rostrand play opens in Paris, 1640. (I have not found this information for the Alfano opera.)
The opening here was a bit uncomfortable for the theatre audience, with characters coming from the back of the house down the aisles and interacting in front of the curtain. But it retreats to the a proper well-set stage fairly quickly.
R.Alagna is amazing in the role. He acts as well as he sings, and that is considerable. He clearly has great affection for the role; he instigated this production, and his brothers Frédérico & David are credited with production design and stage direction. A featurette on the disc interviews all 3 and some of the cast.
The nose was also amazing, clearly giving him room to breathe, and staying put after his lengthy swordfight cum song "composition" that generated a lot of sweat on his face. Somehow he is still handsome with the nose; something about the force of his personality and talent.
VERY glad to have this. Now I'm curious about the P.Domingo production.
Opéra National de Montpellier, cond. Guidarini; 9
