If Only Politicians Were As Sensitive

Tenor who stormed off La Scala stage vows he will return

Roberto Alagna, the tenor who stormed off the stage at La Scala, Milan, after catcalls and boos from the audience, last night appeared to backtrack on his vow never to return. However, a spokesman for the opera house said that the performer had broken his contract. “His behaviour has created a rift between the artist and the audience, and there is no possibility of repairing this relationship,” said Carlo Maria Cella.

Alanga had grown increasingly incensed on Sunday night during the second performance of Franco Zeffirelli’s extravagant production of Verdi’s opera, as his opening aria was met with a critical response from some sections of the audience. He suddenly stopped singing, glared angrily into the audience, threw off his Egyptian cloak and stormed out, refusing to finish his performance, as the audience at La Scala shouted: “Shame on you.”

For the second performance, the loggionisti — the diehard La Scala operagoers who queue overnight for a seat — were in full cry. As Alagna began the opera’s opening aria, Celeste Aida, a chorus of boos and whistles broke out and he walked off stage.

The public was outraged, but Alagna, 43, was defiant. “I do not deserve this kind of reception,” he said last night.

Zeffirelli, 83, accused the tenor of acting like a spoilt brat: “A professional should never behave in this way. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings. He does not know how to act like a true star.”

You do get my point, don't you?