Viva la Mamma, by Donizetti

Date: Sunday, March 28 at 2:45pm
Tickets: $20
Run Time: 2 hours with 1 intermission
Language: In Italian with English Subtitles
Location: Mountain Cinema in the Doctorow Center for the Arts, Rte. 23A, Village of Hunter, NY
Information: 518-263-2002 (recorded information) or 518-263-4702 (during hours of operation)

Viva la Mamma is a mad-cap farce about opera singers behaving badly and stage mothers behaving even worse! Rehearsals are underway for the very serious opera Romolo ed Ersilia, but the unruly performers, and their even more unruly egos, prevent any actual rehearsal from taking place. The prima donna Daria insists that her part is too small -- even when Luigia, the seconda donna (the second-most important soprano), the German Tenor and the Musician all insist that the prima donna's part is far too large. Luigia's domineering mother Agata (the "mamma" of the title) arrives on the scene, and insists that her daughter's part be bigger. Soon the Tenor and the Musician fume off, only to be replaced by Agata in the Musician's role and Daria's husband as the tenor. The stage manager, impresario and composer are helpless to quell the raging self-absorbed demands of the performers, so the police are called in to stop the chaos. Rehearsals finally begin, but are soon interrupted again by the announcement that the production has been called off. All of the performers sneak out of the theatre, in an effort to avoid having to repay all the money that has already been invested in the production.