[Dixielandjazz] More fodder! More fodder!!!

[Fr M J (Mike) Logsdon]

And DOMINGO'S fault!

Woody Allen to direct LA opera
Thu Jun 21, 10:46 PM ET

Woody Allen, directing an opera? In Los Angeles?
It will happen in September 2008, according to
Placido Domingo, general director of the Los
Angeles Opera. The New York filmmaker will make
his operatic directorial debut with the opening
event of the LA Opera's 2008-09 season.

"I have no idea what I am doing," Allen said in a
statement Thursday. "But incompetence has never
prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm."

Allen is scheduled to direct "Gianni Schicchi,"
part of Puccini's "Il Trittico," a trio of
one-act operas.

The two other operas, "Il Tabarro" and "Suor
Angelica," will also have a movie director,
William Friedkin ("The Exorcist," "The French
Connection").

Domingo stated that he has often pursued movie
directors to try their hand at opera. It took him
four years, his longest such pursuit, to get
Allen to say yes.

"Gianni Schicchi," set in medieval Florence, is Puccini's only comedy.
"To have Woody Allen direct 'Gianni Schicchi' is
a match made in heaven," Friedkin said in a
statement.


Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.