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Ron Howard Discusses His Documentary on the Iconic Tenor Luciano Pavarotti

Lady Beverly Cohn: The Road to Hollywood — Thu, 23 May 2019 22:30:13 +0000

Ron Howard transitioned from a child actor to becoming one of Hollywood’s most talented, respected directors. Courtesy Photo

Ron Howard certainly falls into the category of a national treasure beginning with his role as America’s favorite kid, Opie, on “The Andy Griffith Show.” Since that time, that little kid from Duncan, Oklahoma, co-starred in a variety of episodic television shows as well as directing Emmy-award winning programs. He made his feature film directing debut with “Grand Auto Theft” subsequently working with some of the most famous Hollywood actors, including Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Kurt Russell, Mel Gibson, Gary Sinise, Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, and Bill Paxton. He has directed some of the film industry’s most memorable films including, “Cocoon,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Splash,” “Parenthood,” “Cinderella Man,” “Frost/Nixon,” and “Apollo 13” which garnered the Best Director Oscar.

Your reporter sat down with this brilliant director for an exclusive interview to discuss his latest film, “Pavarotti,” a documentary on the life, times, and struggles of one of the world’s most famous tenors. A CBS Films Polygram Entertainment Brian Grazer presentation, the film is an Imagine Entertainment and White Horse Pictures production, and is scheduled to open in select cities on June 7.

The following has been edited for content and continuity for print purposes.

Just as his friend Princess Diana was the “The People’s Princess,” Luciano Pavarotti was “The People’s Tenor.” Photo Courtesy Decca Records

You’ve made two successful documentaries: “Made in America” and “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years.” Why a documentary on Pavarotti?

Ron: I was drawn to his personal and professional journey, which I thought was inspiring and very dramatic and a great human-interest story. He had missteps and foibles but at the end of the day, I felt there was an interesting paradox with this very common, earthy guy performing at that high level for so many years. The film is a blend of his life and what I could reveal about opera, what it takes to sing opera, and what opera can mean on an emotional level. I could offer audiences something a little surprising. That’s what drew me to make the film.

When you were doing your research and interviewing people, did you discover something that surprised you?

Ron: It was interesting to understand the way he navigated in the world. So on one hand, he was not an innocent, but he wanted people to like him and he wanted to make people feel comfortable. At the same time, he was a shrewd businessman and he cared about the deals. I was surprised at the way his career sort of flattened out. He went into a period of a kind of a malaise wherein he cancelled appearances and was just down in general in the wake of some romances that didn’t work out. His marriage was really over but he didn’t feel he could get a divorce. Catholic and Italian made a divorce highly problematic for him and his family.

One of the most exciting moments in the film is the famous Three Tenors concert featuring José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, and Plácido Domingo which was performed and recorded live in Rome by Decca Classics label winning a Grammy for Best Classical Vocal Performance in 1991 and is the best-selling classical album of all time. Courtesy photo

Was it easy to get cooperation from his family?

Ron: I didn’t interview his first wife Adua Veroni because I don’t speak Italian and I was directing “Solo – A Star Wars Story” at that time. I think the family was incredibly courageous. They gave us all a gift – not by just offering insight into Luciano – all his foibles and all his disappointments – but also by giving us an object lesson in forgiveness. I didn’t expect that. None of us expected that to come out of those interviews and it wasn’t just Adua, it was also the daughters.

Pavarotti with Princess Diana and her husband Charles. Her friendship and her philanthropy lifted his fallen spirits giving him a new purpose. Courtesy Photo

Did someone in Pavarotti’s life impact him life in a positive way?

Ron: I was surprised that Princess Diana, who I had an opportunity to meet a couple of times over the years and actually talked to her, had a deep effect on him. Her dedication to philanthropy seemed to reinvigorate him in a way and he took that on himself. That was something that came out of the interviews.

A loving father, Pavarotti with one of his children. Courtesy Photo

What is it about documentaries that you find particularly exciting?

Ron: I always enjoyed them and they satisfy my curiosity. They’re related to a lot of the narrative stories that I’ve done – the ones that are either based on real events or they’re fiction and meant to depict the world like the movie “The Paper.” I wanted the journalism to feel realistic even though it was a fictional story. There’s a lot of research involved. I always found that fascinating and as I’ve done that, it’s made me more and more curious about what it would be like to make a documentary and take on that responsibility. In the three films I’ve done, I’ve had fantastic collaborators who were helping me understand that discipline. I find it very satisfying. It’s a departure in some ways from what I do when I’m directing a scripted narrative piece, but they’re more related than I expected it to be.

What is the difference between making a narrative film vs. a documentary?

Ron: Basically, you’re skipping over the production side with a documentary and going right to post. Whenever I’m in post production, I always forget about what it was like to shoot and just look at what we have and try to explore what its virtues are and what it can be. Actually, the big difference is that the story has to kind of define itself for you based on the acquired footage and what the interviewees have to say. So, you have your goals, you’ve done your research, you start thinking about what the story is going to be, but you can’t be sure. It does sort of present itself. When you’re working on a scripted project, you have a lot more editorial control over what it is you want to say and how you want to work with the story to say it. In this case, Pavarotti’s spirit informed every interview and even if they were acknowledging warts and disappointments, the take-away was always that the scales dipped dramatically to the positive. His spirit, and his sense of giving were pure and something everyone respected and appreciated.

Pavarotti in performance with his signature white handkerchief which he started using as a young singer because he wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. Courtesy Photo

Your film definitely fulfills his wish to bring opera to the masses.

Ron: Thank you. If we accomplished that, I’d feel that we have helped Luciano Pavarotti to fulfill his agenda.

Thank you so much for a gracious interview.

Ron: Nice interview. Thank you.

Stay tuned for Part 2 in which Ron Howard discusses transitioning from actor to director, how he chooses his scripts, and his directing approach.

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The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD Returns to Cinemas

Ruth J. Katz — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 04:45:53 +0000

The 2017-18 season of The Met: Live in HD began (as did the season at the house) with a dazzling production of Bellini’s Norma starring Joyce DiDonato, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Joseph Calleja, a staging that was met with wide acclaim and enthusiasm. If you had not snagged a ticket to opening night at the opera house, you still had the “default” opportunity to see the stellar production Live in HD; and if you missed that second opportunity, you may yet have another chance next summer, when the Met often reprises its Live in HD winners and stages encores in selected cinemas. It is not, however, too late to take in a few other Live in HD presentations from the world-renowned Met. The company has broadcast more than 100 Live in HD programs and this season marks the 12th year these wildly popular presentations are being simulcast.

Once thought of as the domain of cultural elitists, opera has garnered a wider audience because of these accessible broadcasts, available in nearly 2,000 select US and international movie theaters; domestically, the series is presented through Fathom Events and its Digital Broadcast Network. To date, over 22 million tickets have been sold in 73 countries, with the average ticket price hovering at about $23. Not bad, for a full-scale, lavish, stunningly staged production.

As animated on the big screen, the Live in HD simulcasts offer an up-close and personal look at the opera’s staging – beads of sweat-on-the-brow, and all – that is truly thrilling. Moreover, with the easy-to-read supertitles, it is simple to follow the story line, even if the libretto is one of opera’s more notoriously convoluted plots. Additionally, the Saturday afternoon simulcasts are often shown again on the following Wednesday evenings, with an encore screening. The transmissions are accompanied by engrossing intermission segments–behind the scenes, say, with the prop or costume department, or an interview with a popular tenor or soprano, or an informative segment about a modern composer. It is always a rewarding afternoon, culturally, educationally, and visually.

Fathom Events is one of the largest overall distributors of content to movie theaters and is well-known for its domestic presentations of event-cinema, including high-definition performances of not only the Metropolitan Opera, but also dance and theater productions, such as the Bolshoi Ballet and England’s National Theatre, as well as classic film presentations.

Tickets for The Met: Live in HD 2017-18 season can be purchased online at FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change). Details on ordering tickets for the 2017-18 Live in HD series vary from country to country.

Still to come this season are: Tosca (January 27); L’Elisir d’Amore (February 10); La Bohème (February 24); Semiramide (March 10); Così Fan Tutte (March 31); Luisa Miller (April 14); Cendrillon (April 28).

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation. Global sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Transmission of The Met: Live in HD in Canada is made possible thanks to the generosity of Jacqueline Desmarais, in memory of Paul G. Desmarais Sr. Within months of their initial live transmissions, the Live in HD programs are shown on the Public Broadcasting System. The PBS series, Great Performances at the Met, is produced in association with PBS and WNET, with support from Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Also on screen January 13th and 17th (check local listings for times), courtesy of Fathom Events, is the film, The Opera House, by award-winning documentary filmmaker Susan Froemke. It chronicles a significant period of the Metropolitan Opera’s rich history and a time of noteworthy change for New York. Featuring rarely seen archival footage, stills, recent interviews, and a soundtrack of extraordinary Met performances, the film chronicles the creation of the Met’s storied home of the last 50 years, against the backdrop of the artists, architects, and politicians who shaped the cultural life of New York City in the ’50s and ’60s. Among the notable figures in the film are famed soprano Leontyne Price, who opened the new Met in 1966 in Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra; Rudolf Bing, the Met’s imperious General Manager, who engineered the move from the old house to the new one; Robert Moses, the unstoppable city planner who bulldozed an entire neighborhood to make room for Lincoln Center; and Wallace Harrison, whose quest for architectural glory was never fully realized.

A set model for David McVicar’s new production of Tosca. Set designer: John Macfarlane. Photo: Metropolitan Opera Technical Department

TOSCA (Giacomo Puccini) NEW PRODUCTION

January 27, 2018 at 12:55 p.m. ET

Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume; Production: Sir David McVicar; Set and Costume Designer: John Macfarlane; Lighting Designer: David Finn; Choreographer: Leah Hausman; Cast: Sonya Yoncheva (Tosca), Vittorio Grigolo (Cavaradossi), Sir Bryn Terfel (Scarpia), Patrick Carfizzi (Sacristan)

A scene from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore . Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

L’ELISIR d’AMORE (Donizetti)

February 10, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. ET

Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan; Production: Bartlett Sher; Set Designer: Michael Yeargan; Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber; Lighting Designer: Jennifer Tipton; Cast: Pretty Yende (Adina), Matthew Polenzani (Nemorino), Davide Luciano (Belcore), Ildebrando D’Arcangelo (Dulcamara)

A scene from Act II of Puccini’s La Bohème. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

LA BOHÈME (Puccini)

February 24, 2018 at 12:30 p.m. ET

Conductor: Marco Armiliato; Production: Franco Zeffirelli; Set Designer: Franco Zeffirelli; Costume Designer: Peter J. Hall; Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler; Cast: Sonya Yoncheva (Mimì), Susanna Phillips (Musetta), Michael Fabiano (Rodolfo), Lucas Meachem (Marcello), Alexey Lavrov (Schaunard), Matthew Rose (Colline), Paul Plishka (Benoit/Alcindoro)

A scene from Rossini’s Semiramide. Photo by Winnie Klotz/Metropolitan Opera

SEMIRAMIDE (Rossini) FIRST TIME IN HD

March 10, 2018 at 12:55 p.m. ET

Conductor: Maurizio Benini; Production: John Copley; Set Designer: John Conklin; Costume Designer: Michael Stennett; Lighting Designer: Gil Wechsler; Cast: Angela Meade (Semiramide), Elizabeth DeShong (Arsace), Javier Camarena (Idreno), Ildar Abdrazakov (Assur), Ryan Speedo Green (Oroe)

Kelli O’Hara as Despina and Christopher Maltman as Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte. Photo by Paola Kudacki/Metropolitan Opera

COSÌ FAN TUTTE (Mozart) NEW PRODUCTION

March 31, 2018 at 12:55 p.m. ET

Conductor: David Robertson; Production: Phelim McDermott; Set Designer: Tom Pye; Costume Designer: Laura Hopkins; Lighting Designer: Paule Constable; Cast: Amanda Majeski (Fiordiligi), Serena Malfi (Dorabella), Kelli O’Hara (Despina), Ben Bliss (Ferrando), Adam Plachetka (Guglielmo), Christopher Maltman (Don Alfonso)

A scene from Verdi’s Luisa Miller. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

LUISA MILLER (Verdi) FIRST TIME IN HD

April 14, 2018 at 12:30 p.m. ET

Conductor: Bertrand de Billy; Production: Elijah Moshinsky; Set and Costume Designer: Santo Loquasto; Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler; Cast: Sonya Yoncheva (Luisa), Olesya Petrova (Federica), Piotr Beczala (Rodolfo), Plácido Domingo (Miller), Alexander Vinogradov (Walter), Dmitry Belosselskiy (Wurm)

A scene from Laurent Pelly’s new production of Massenet’s Cendrillon. Photographed here at the Santa Fe Opera. Photo by Ken Howard.

CENDRILLON (Massenet) MET PREMIERE

April 28, 2018 at 12:55 p.m. ET

Conductor: Bertrand de Billy; Production: Laurent Pelly; Set Designer: Barbara de Limburg; Costume Designer: Laurent Pelly; Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler; Cast: Joyce DiDonato (Cendrillon), Alice Coote (Le Prince Charmant), Stephanie Blythe (Madame de la Haltière), Kathleen Kim (La Fée), Laurent Naouri (Pandolfe)

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Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD on the Plaza at Lincoln Center

Ruth J. Katz — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 18:00:34 +0000

Pack up some picnic vittles and a soft chair cushion. It is once again time for the free—as in it costs no money—eleven nights of opera (nine operas, as “Tristan und Isolde” is presented in two parts, on successive evenings, and the series kicks off with an operatic film), The Met: Live in HD, in the Plaza at Lincoln Center. The musical bounty starts Friday evening, August 25th, and ends September 4th, Labor Day. It is one of the greatest gifts that residents of the Big Apple and tourists receive. This is the ninth year that it is being staged, gathering increased critical mass annually, becoming more and more popular, even among people who have never sampled opera before, much less savored it. (Last year more than 40,000 people attended; the seating in the Plaza accommodates 3,000, on a first-come, first-served basis.)

The Metropolitan Opera’s Summer Live in HD Festival on Lincoln Center Plaza–a scene from 2011. Photo: Richard Termine/Metropolitan Opera.

The Live in HD performances are affecting, intimate, and imminently accessible. Presented in a larger-than-life fashion on the massive screen against the opera house’s facade, each opera is fully translated with subtitles, so no need to try to divine what is happening, which can be particularly vexing in some of opera’s more complicated, convoluted, logic-defying, plot-twisting libretti. The first evening is the 1975 film of “The Magic Flute” (“Die Zauberflöte”), as conceived by Ingmar Bergman, and it is presented as a joint venture of the Met and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The Met has added a film for the first evening’s viewing each season for the past several years—last year, it was “West Side Story.”

Operatic superstars abound in these Live in HD productions—Diana Damrau, Peter Mattei, Piotr Beczała, Susanna Phillips, Eric Owens, Kristine Opolais, Juan Diego Flórez, Nına Stemme, Roberto Alagna, Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo, and Thomas Hampson, to name but a baker’s dozen of the many who comprise the star-studded roster. So, come early, bring your dinner (and a cushion to put on the hard plastic chair seat), make new friends with those around you, and enjoy the fabuloso gift of The Met: Live in HD that is bestowed upon us. It is made possible by generous support from the Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust, with additional funding provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation; the original transmissions of The Met: Live in HD are supported by a grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation, with global corporate sponsorship provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Curtain times vary, see the schedule below:

The Magic Flute

Friday, August 25, 8 pm
Director Ingmar Bergman was a lifelong fan of Mozart’s late operatic masterpiece “Die Zauberflöte” (“The Magic Flute”), having seen the work as a young boy. He went on to create a cinematic version of the opera, sung in his native Swedish, that blends 18th-century stagecraft with fairy-tale adventure. For the film, maestro Eric Ericson conducted the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and a cast that included a number of young Scandinavian artists, most notably baritone Håkan Hagegård—who sang nearly 90 performances for Met audiences—as the charming bird catcher Papageno.
Approximate running time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Piotr Beczala as the Duke in Verdi’s “Rigoletto.” Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

Rigoletto

Saturday, August 26, 8 pm
Željko Lučić stars as the brooding title character in Michael Mayer’s neon-bedecked production, which updates the action to Las Vegas in 1960. (The Duke’s henchman are appropriately decked out in brocade tuxedos that speak to the era perfectly!) Diana Damrau is his impetuous daughter, Gilda, alongside Piotr Beczała as the licentious Duke. Original transmission: February 16, 2013
Approximate running time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Peter Mattei as Figaro, John Del Carlo as Doctor Bartolo and Joyce DiDonato as Rosina in Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia.” Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Sunday, August 27, 7:45 pm
Baritone Peter Mattei stars as Figaro (and for my money, he’s the best Figaro I have ever seen!), the title barber of Seville, in Bartlett Sher’s uproarious, joyous production. Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez complete the star-studded bel canto cast. Original transmission: March 24, 2007
Approximate running time: 2 hours 45 minutes

L’Amour de Loin

Monday, August 28, 8 pm
Susanna Phillips, Tamara Mumford, and Eric Owens star in the Met premiere production of Kaija Saariaho’s 21st-century masterpiece, brought to life in a spellbinding staging by Robert Lepage, who uses extraordinary LED lighting on the set. Susanna Mälkki conducts this mesmerizing score. Original transmission: December 10, 2016
Approximate running time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Manon Lescaut

Tuesday, August 29, 8 pm
Soprano Kristine Opolais gives an enthralling performance as the mercurial title character opposite tenor Roberto Alagna as her passionate young lover, the Chevalier des Grieux. Fabio Luisi (another one of my favorites) leads Puccini’s heartbreaking early masterpiece, updated to a more contemporary time. Original transmission: March 5, 2016
Approximate running time: 2 hours 10 minutes

A scene from Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux.” Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera.

Roberto Devereux

Wednesday, August 30, 8 pm
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky delivers a tour-de-force performance as Queen Elizabeth, the third queen of Donizetti’s perilous triplet-queen operas; “Maria Stuarda” and “Anna Bolena” are the other two operas. She performs alongside superstars Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani, and Mariusz Kwiecien. The production’s black and gold sets are breathtaking. Original transmission: April 16, 2016
Approximate running time: 2 hours 30 minutes

A scene from Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.” Photo by Ken Howard/ Metropolitan Opera.

Tristan und Isolde

Thursday, August 31, 8 pm (Act I) and
Friday, September 1, 8 pm (Acts II and III)
Sir Simon Rattle conducts Wagner’s meditation on transcendent love, with an acclaimed cast led by Nına Stemme and Stuart Skelton. Mariusz Treliński’s insightful production sets the timeless tale against a backdrop of modern-day warfare; the near-chiaroscuro set and costumes are elegant. Original transmission: October 8, 2016
Approximate running time for Act I: 1 hour 45 minutes
Approximate running time for Acts II–III: 2 hours 35 minutes

Anna Netrebko as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” Photo by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera.

Eugene Onegin

Saturday, September 2, 8 pm
Anna Netrebko and Peter Mattei deliver gripping performances in Tchaikovsky’s moving opera about unrequited love. Robin Ticciati conducts one of the composer’s most popular scores. Original transmission: April 22, 2017
Approximate running time: 2 hours 40 minutes

Nabucco

Sunday, September 3, 8 pm
As the title king of Babylon, Plácido Domingo adds another role to his historic Met career, joining forces once again with Music Director Emeritus James Levine. The Metropolitan Opera Chorus delivers a poignant performance of Verdi’s famous “Va, pensiero,” just about the only chorus (or aria, duet, trio, quartet, for that matter) that is encored at the Met, giving the sensational chorus its due. Original transmission: January 7, 2017
Approximate running time: 2 hours 25 minutes

A scene from Verdi’s “Nabucco.” Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

La Traviata

Monday, September 4, 8 pm
Verdi’s timeless tragedy stars Sonya Yoncheva as the conflicted courtesan who hopes that pure love can save her from self-destruction. Michael Fabiano is her beloved Alfredo and Thomas Hampson is the imperious father standing in the way of their happiness. This is a modern-day update and another one that is stark in its use of chiaroscuro, but brightened by the occasional bolt of vermillion and by a pair of bathrobes stitched from a veritable flower-bed of fabric); however, despite its interest, it has me hankering for the two older Zeffirelli, lush, traditional productions. Original transmission: March 11, 2017
Approximate running time: 2 hours 20 minutes

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