Le Pontife masqué
Dear Liz Smith reports today:
“THE NEW pope, Benedict XVI, is getting a reputation for slightly eccentric behavior. He likes to disguise himself as a simple priest and go out at night back to his former apartments in a little zone tucked behind St. Peter’s Square. He often goes to his old room and stays there for hours.”
Now, maybe this is just me, but doesn’t that sound like the premise for an opera comique?
Pierette and her confidante Marthe are unaware that the simple
Pere Michel is none other than Pope Benedict XVI! A delicious trio of comic
intrigue ensues. The chiming of churchbells signals the arrival of a band of
gypsies, who dance an infectious if dramatically irrelevant tarantella. The
pope, now slightly tipsy, sings the roguish couplets “Ah, sous la rose
je suis infaillible,” attracting the attention of the love-starved Duc de Boum…
oooh, oooh this getting Good!!!!!
Then in his Act 3 Soliloquy, Padre Stefano, sung by young Hottie Stephen Costello confesses that he has desire for men to the Camerlango, shirtless Rodney Gilfrey. He sings the lament “Ho bisogno d’un uomo non Dio” ending on an interpolated pianissimo high D on the words “Io vengo”.
A feroicious duet ensues between the two, “Fermata qua! Io devo conoscere adesso!!!”, about the young priest’s desire to go to Pope Benedict and confess his sin. This set’s off the Camerlango’s cavatina/cabaletta “Devo rinunciarlo!!…Un padre potete essere, ma sono il vostro Daddy!
Then the Duchess of Mezzocazzo, (secretly known as the Princess of Coitus Interruptus), who is the illegitimate daughter of the jewish half-sister of Bendict, sung by Maria Guleghina, Sings her Bolero ” Il mio mezzo fratello e un Nazi Cazzo.” Curtain closes on a wobbled high C!
Is it too late for the Met to cancel that Tan Dun Chinese Emperor opera and substitute this one?
I feel we have a winner here.