WHO: MySpace, the world’s most popular social network, in
cooperation with the Department of Defense’s Armed Forces
Entertainment and America Supports You program, presents
Operation MySpace, a concert for the troops in Kuwait with
host Carlos Mencia and performances by the Pussycat Dolls,
Jessica Simpson, Disturbed, Filter and DJ Z-Trip.
WHAT: The 3-hour plus Operation MySpace concert will be streamed live in high definition using Kulabyte’s XStream Live Solutions on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 2 p.m. EDT / 11 a.m. PDT on the official Operation MySpace profile:
http://myspace.com/operationmyspace
While the NYCOF admires Fox & MySpace for their effort to re-invent the USO Tour for the 21st-century, I gotta ask … “What about all our boys (and girls) who are opera fanatics?“. Yeah, Yeah — Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Well, that’s just not good enough anymore. Opera Fanatics have the right to kill and be killed … and be entertained while doing so … just like everbody else does.
Hence, “Operation Moffo”. Nix Jessica Simpson (puhlezze) and insert her operatic equivalent, Anna Moffo, performing an aria from an opera that’s basically all about one hot babe entertaining an entire regiment. Vocally, of course — and in French (preferrably). Remember, Moffo is the operatic equivalent of Jessica Simpson … NOT Jessica Simpson herself.
The opera is Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment, or “The Daughter Of The Regiment” in our mother tongue. Our favorite fille from Philly, Anna Moffo is the “daughter”, Marie. The aria is “Ah, chacun le sait, chacun le dit”. And here is the backstory leading up to that aria.
(from the trusty old “Encyclopedia Of Opera”, David Ewen, ed. Hill & Wang, 1955. Highly-recommended, excellent no-frills reference book. Probably difficult to locate, but worth seeking out. I found my copy at a used bookstore.)
Act 1. A mountain pass. The French, under Napoleon, have invaded the Tyrol. Marie, adopted in infancy by the (French) 21st Regiment, has grown to young womanhood and become the regiment’s “vivandiere” (translated as ‘canteen-manager’ NOT ‘bar-ho’). Marie is in love with Tonio (a local Italian boy). Unfortunately, Tonio is then dragged in by the French and accused of being a spy. When Marie explains that Tonio once saved her life, the French are kinder to him and make him a recruit into their regiment. This inspires Marie to sing a song of praise to the regiment, in which the soldiers join in.
If that doesn’t make you go gallumping around the mess hall, then nothin will.
A note on the performance. If one can be demented as Marie, then I think Moffo is just that. And, this performance is from 1974. Yes, 1974! I think we often forget that there was vocal life for Moffo AFTER that 1969 Mad Scene meltdown. In fact, if you searched the MET archives online (as I did, recently) you will notice that Moffo still performed a lot at the MET during the ’70s. I always just assumed, and had always been told by those noisy opera know-it-alls, that Moffo was finished … through … kaputt … after ‘69. Well, apparently not … and I’ve posted the evidence to prove it. Certainly, her singing became more variable during the ’70s, but her art never left her (even, if sometimes, her good judgment did). Marie isn’t Norma, of course, but the role perfectly suits Moffo’s talents at the time. Moffo may not be at her profoundest here, but she is at her most entertaining. So, to paraphrase one of the Geico commercials, I leave you with this thought …
“Opera As Entertainment. Remarkable.”
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