At La Scala the opera is back on stage, something that hadn't happened since last February 23, when the theaters were closed due to the lockdown.
And it does so with two distinct productions: first, on January 23, with Cosi fan tutti, in the now historic staging by Michale Hempe in 1982, and then with one of the most anticipated shows (in vain) of last season, namely Salome with the directed by Damiano Michieletto, a brilliant director capable of provoking which will be broadcast live on Rai 5 on February 20, the day on which the first Italian patient tested positive for Coronavirus was swab in Codogno.
Thus fan tutti will be live on Raiplay, on the RaiCultura website and on the theater website.
However, the emotion is all there for those who have been waiting for months to reorganize a show.
During the summer, in fact, concerts and operas were held but in concert form and then the Lucia di Lammermoor scheduled for December 7th was skipped due to an outbreak of Covid in the choir.
"What we miss most is the public - explained director Lorenza Cantini, who resumed the staging of Hempe, recalling how the theater was born precisely to present itself to the public with whom, he explains," he has physical and psychological contact.
This is the greatest difficulty, the rest is overcome ". And in fact the cast is working on the final filings. The scenography, Cantini explains, is by Mauro Pagano," a historical staging in La Scala productions ". And a way to La Scala to remember the set designer who died in 1988, 70 years after his birth.
At the moment of going on stage, "when the lights go on and there should be applause - continues Cantini - seeing the empty theater is really difficult, something we hope finish as soon as possible.
We are used to making shows and rehearsals knowing that there will be no spectators, but then we really need human contact, not just that through television, which is however very important '.
So much anticipation for Salome, who should have debuted on 8 March.
The scenes were ready, the rehearsals with the musical director of the theater Riccardo Chailly already advanced.
And it was he who repeated with conviction that he would have liked to put it on stage anyway.
It will happen but without him.
On the podium, Zubin Mehta will be the darling of the Scaligero audience, who made his debut at La Scala in 1974 with the work of Richard Strauss.
In the cast Elena Stikhina at the Scala debut, together with Wolfgang Koch as Iochanaan, Gerhard Siegel as Herodes and Linda Watson as Herodias.
