Word: falstaffs
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Henry IV, Part 1, has one huge epicenter, that Santa Claus of roguery, Sir John Falstaff. The old knight is as nimble of wit as his belly is full of sack, a braggart, a liar, a thief, a cynic and a coward, but with all that an irresistibly endearing tub of bubbling jollity. Early on, Falstaff (Joss Ackland) chides the heir apparent Prince Hal (Gerard Murphy), who has made the Boar's Head Tavern his home away from the castle, for leading him into evil ways...
Every decibel was earned. The production of Verdi's Falstaff by the Los Angeles Philharmonic-cosponsored...
...sets and costumes. In Giulini's hands, the final masterpiece of Verdi's old age emerged not as a simple, sometimes cruel romp, but a wise, humanistic view of life's pleasures and follies. Brimming with a youthful freshness and ardor, the seamless music of Falstaff could have been written only by a man well versed in the ways of the world. Giulini's interpretation went straight to the heart of this central paradox: fleet and light when it had to be, yet suffused with touching sympathy for Shakespeare's fat, amorous knight...
...idea of producing Falstaff originated four years ago, when Giulini became music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, succeeding Zubin Mehta. He and Ernest Fleischmann, the orchestra's shrewd executive director, agreed that Giulini would lead at least one fully staged opera under ideal working conditions during his tenure. Since 1968, when he performed Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at the Met, Giulini has turned down all offers to conduct opera in the theater. Accustomed to only new productions at such major opera houses as Milan's La Scala and London's Covent Garden, Giulini...
...village naif (Jack Gilford). For sage advice the victim consults the local, and unfunny, rabbi: "Why is the sea salty?" "Because of the herrings who live in it.'' In The Bandit, Gilford plays Aleichem himself, terrified by a thief, then retelling his role, à la Falstaff, as heroic. In The High School, the longest and most didactic episode, Gilford plays a domineering and ignorant father whose son is anxious to leave the ghetto for the new century. Between these sketches, Adapter Arnold Perl has shoehorned Bontche Schweig, by I.L. Peretz, a man without Aleichem's name...