Does anyone have any good anecdotes about opera singers?!
Question:
Does anyone have any good anecdotes about opera singers?
You know how these stories are ...maybe un-confirmable ....but it is said that ~
Madame Schumann-Heink, the Czech contralto who was thought to be a little portly, was at dinner one time. The waiter brought to her table a platter with a huge steak. One of her dinner partners said, "Madame, are you eating that steak alone?"
"Why no," she said, "mit potatoes!"
*******
Another time she was having difficulty getting through a narrow passage. Someone near her suggested that she would be able to get through if she would turn sideways.
"I haff no sideways!" she answered
Answers:
the Tosca incident was supposed to be done on purpose (switching mattress with a trampoline) I believe it was done to Montserrat Caballe ..... these I personally saw ... the cast was told not to approach nor speak to Pavarotti at his request so during short breaks in the staging of the show the little kids would be about 10 feet away from him gawking at the opera superstar and he summoned each one over one at a time and had a chat with each one .... the same production had Renata Scotto (right after her feud with Pavarotti started) so the stage director kept banging her head in frustration because they would sing their love duets from opposite sides of the stage ..... then there are the dozens of Kathleen Battle stories ... one where she calls her manager to tell the limo driver to turn up the heat in the car