Like Evita, the production opens and closes with Lanza’s death and funeral, while the show proper concentrates mostly on the last decade or so of Lanza’s life. Director John Wregg described Lanza as the ‘epitome of the celebrity/monster’.
“His extraordinary talent is matched by his genius for self-destruction,” Wregg says in the programme.
So much depends on getting the casting just right for this show. International star Aldo Di Toro is fabulous and has the audience eating out of his hand from his first entrance. What a voice! He ranges from popular favourites (‘O Sole Mio’, ‘Funiculi, Funicula’) to high opera (Pinkerton from Madama Butterfly, ‘Vesti La Giubba’ from Pagliacci etc). Of medium height, this dashing Italian tenor is amazing. His voice is angelic, soaring and pleading in ‘Ave Maria’ and his Canio in Pagliacci gives you goosebumps. He also has enormous fun with ‘Be My Love’ and ‘Drink, Drink’ from The Student Prince. Among other songs are the evergreen ‘Arrivederci Roma’ and ‘The Loveliest Night of the Year’. There is also a show-stopping song where Lanza (and Di Toro’s) incredible breath control is revealed while doing pushups and other gym exercises.
As Lanza’s wife Betty, his mother and various co-stars (e.g. Kathryn Grayson and Ann Blyth) Tiffany Speight – who has also sung with Opera Australia and Victorian Opera – is superb. In fine voice, and wearing some lovely gowns with various stoles, furs, gloves, hats etc, she is marvellous. (Her ‘Vilja, O Vilja’ from Lehar’s The Merry Widow is marvellous, as is the duet from ‘La Traviata’ she performs with Di Toro.)
As Costa, Lanza’s musical director and manager, and part-time narrator of the show, Guy Noble (looking very Jonathan Biggins-like) is splendid in a rare return to acting. Elegant in a tuxedo, he is in fine form and does a magnificent job.
The elegant Strelitzia trio , Lindsay Gilroy, Victoria Jacono-Gimovich and Eleanor Betts, beautiful in pink evening gowns, play magnificently.
Various projections – of wallpaper, the walls of a recording studio, gala evenings, Lanza in various roles, Rome and other Italian cities, and quotes from various critics – are used as part of the story. Letters from Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo about Lanza’s influence on them also feature.
Was Lanza’s death in an Italian clinic from natural causes? Was it a mafia hit? Could it have been misdiagnosis and mismanagement by his doctors? Like the deaths of Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe, there are many rumours and theories about his demise and we will never really know the true facts.
This production had only a short, sold out season, and was rapturously received by its audience, with us clapping and singing along to the encore of ‘Funiculi, Funicula’ at the end. Hopefully it will return in 2012. Bravo!
Rating: Four and a half stars
Who Killed Mario Lanza?
By John Wregg
Director: John Wregg
Music Director: Guy Noble
Set and Costume Designer: Allan Lees
Sound Design: Jeremy Silver
Producer: Camilla Rountree
Cast: Aldo di Toro, Tiffany Speight, Guy Noble, Lindsay Gilroy, Victoria Jacono-Gilmovich and Eleanor Betts
Running time – 1 hour 45 ( approx) including interval
Parramatta Riverside Theatres
October 12 – 15
