Rugiadose, odorose Violette graziose

This week on “Unnatural Acts of Opera,” La Cieca presents what you might call an “ultragala” performance of La traviata — the four acts performed by four different celebrated interpreters of the role of Violetta.

For the first act, Anna Moffo is the courtesan, in a 1964 performance from La Scala. Gianni Raimondi is her Alfredo, and Herbert von Karajan conducts.

Before the act, La Cieca welcomes into the studio a legendary lady of the American legitimate theater, Miss Tallulah Bankhead, who favors us with a reading of a scene from the play Camille. Unnatural Acts of Opera