Opera is total theater that incorporates all of the arts, says the publicist. It's a pageant, says the wig-maker. We live in a visual culture and opera appeals to the visual; it is pure, unadulterated spectacle, says the stage director.
Warming up his hands before the curtain rises, the assistant maestro who conducts from the prompt box declares you would be hard-pressed to put together a better cast. This is pretty much it in the opera world. Placido Domingo has brought the Washington Opera company on its first visit to Japan to present three productions: Guiseppe Verdi's "Otello" (with Domingo singing the title role); Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" (Maria Giurghina as Tosca); and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's "Sly" (Jose Carreras as Sly).
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker attended the opening of Otello at NHK Hall in Tokyo. For the occasion, Domingo specially invited Sergei Gurgeyev, artistic director of the Kirov Opera, to conduct. At the end of the show, the audience demanded more than 10 curtain calls from the principals.