The other Bobby

Walkout tenor Roberto Alagna is just generally pissed at the whole La Scala Aida experience, frankly. Even before the “buu” incident at last night’s performance, Bobby was spewing in an interview with La Repubblica that he (and the other singers in Aida) were being treated like second-class citizens: “La verità è che, in Italia, ormai i cantanti non se li fila più nessuno,” Alagna fumed. “Esistono solo il direttore e il regista, quando mai vedi sui giornali una foto dei cantanti? Lo sa che alla cena a Palazzo Reale non eravamo nemmeno stati invitati e che anche lì ho fatto un mezzo scandalo? E poi tutti quegli applausi a Roberto Bolle… Vadano a vedersi un balletto, invece di un’ opera.”

Yes, it’s true. Apparently at a gala dinner-reception following the prima, the singers were shuttled off to a secondary ballroom while Franco Zeffirelli, Riccardo Chailly, Scala intendant Stéphane Lissner and hobnobbed with the glitterari in the “A” room. And the photographers did indeed focus on Roberto Bolle, which is understandable at least on the grounds that “the other Bobby” is more than a little photogenic.

Opera Chic has more (constantly updated) details, including the point that the Scala performances are being taped by Decca for eventual DVD release, a project that will be pointless without Alagna’s cooperation. Oh, on the same blogsite, a delightful photo of little Bobby’s Scotto Heels.

UPDATE: Now Decca and La Scala are making noises about legal action against Alagna. He says he will show up for the performances scheduled for taping, but not the others (in January). And the Italian news site SKY Life has an online video report about this scandale, including bits and pieces of the gaudy Zeffirelli production, an interview with Antonello “Sul Palco in Jeans” Palombo, plus a tantalizing glimpse of The Other Bobby rocking his triumphal thong.