Probably one of the funniest scenes in Mozart's hilarious comic opera, Cosi fan tutte, is the finale of Act I when the sisters' maid, Despina, comes out disguised as Dr. Anton Mesmer.
Mesmer, a late 18th century Viennese physician who was an object of ridicule by most of his contemporaries including Mozart and DaPonte, today is considered the father of modern psychology despite the fact that most of his medical research has been debunked and discarded. He was known for his experiments using large magnets in the treatment of human diseases and psychological disorders and is the one who coined the term "animal magnetism". We also get the term "mesmerized" from his name.
One of my favorite scenes in Le Nozze di Figaro is when Susanna dresses Cherubino as a girl, and makes fun of him the entire time. Absolutely charming.
Come, kneel down, Stay still there, Now turn around very slowly, Bravo, that's just right! Now turn your face toward me, Hey! keep your eyes on me, Right here, look at me! Madame isn't here. That neckline higher, That hem a little lower, Your hands below your chest, We'll see how you walk afterwards, When you're on your feet. Look at the little rascal, Look how beautiful he is, What a clever look, What charm, what a figure! If women love him, They certainly have their reasons.
After Vida Boheme,(Patrick Swayze), and Noxeema Jackson, (Wesley Snipes), win a major New York drag contest and a trip to Hollywood, they are persuaded to take the inexperienced drag princess, Chi-Chi, (John Leguizamo), with them. They hire a beat-up old Cadillac and set off for Los Angeles, but their car breaks down in a small town in the middle of nowhere. With just their wits and an endless supply of garish costumes, they transform the town and everyone who lives there--until homophobic cop Sheriff Dollard catches up with them...
Synopsis by Michael Brooke
The Four Steps to Becoming a Drag Queen:
1. Let Good Thoughts be your Sword and Shield 2. Ignore Adversity 3. Abide by the Rules of Love 4. Larger Than Life is Just the Right Size
Who could forget this incredibly funny scene from White Christmas where Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye don the Haynes Sisters' feather fans and do a lip sync routine to "Sisters"? White Christmas co-star Rosemary Clooney stated that most of this scene was ad libbed, and the laughter you hear from the audience isn't a laugh track, but the actual laughter from those both on and off camera.
In early 1786, Mozart and his brilliant sidekick, Lorenzo DaPonte, collaborated to bring us what has become one of the world's most beloved comic operas, Le Nozze di Figaro. Along with a host of popular and endearing characters in Susanna, Figaro, Cherubino, and the forlorn Contessa, Cherubino stands in the forefront as probably the most popular and beloved of any single character in the history of opera.
Mozart and DaPonte knew the sexual power that androgyny held over persons of the 18th century and so they sought to entice their audience with that power by using a woman in the role of a 14-year-old boy. The audience, knowing that they were seeing a woman in breeches, were treated to what were then, sexually explicit scenes where Cherubino was seen breathing heavily over both Susanna and the Contessa in the Contessa's bed chamber and even frolicking "innocently" with them upon the bed. It no doubt drove audiences mad, and perhaps forced many a man to cross his legs or lay his hat discretely upon his lap to conceal his excitement.
In this scene, the amazing Frederica Von Stade, (affectionately known as "Flicka"), is Cherubino along with Ileana Cotrubas as Susanna in the 1973 Glyndebourne Festival production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.
In his brilliant performance as "Albert" aka "Starina", in the 1996 film comedy, The Birdcage, Nathan Lane gives us an insight into the life of a drama/drag queen in South Miami Beach who meets head-on with right-wing conservative American politics.
The Birdcage met with mixed reviews ranging from praise to condemnation in both the mainstream press and the gay press for the portrayals of its gay characters.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) praised the film for "going beyond the stereotypes to see the character's depth and humanity. The film celebrates differences and points out the outrageousness of hiding those differences."
Hal Conklin and Denny Wayman, writing at cinemainfocus.com, said, "though the film is a comedy and could be excused as just a way to make people laugh, the humor is in fact the ultimate facade. Underlying the comedy, The Birdcage is a deeply disturbed representation of humanity. This film is a vacuum of spiritual values as depicted by the characters whose extreme behaviors are played out for their comic appeal. In reality, acting out a facade rather than being honest in relationships robs those who do so of their intimacy as well as their integrity."
Gay writer Michael Bronski, writing in Z Magazine, said, "The Birdcage is simple-minded, uninformed, laugh-track Hollywood junk and trades on the trendiness of certain aspects of gay male culture without ever understanding them. It also trivializes and diminishes gay lives by refusing to take them — or homophobia — seriously."
Information Source: Wikipedia
I've featured one of my favorite scenes from this comedy classic, also starring Robin Williams as Albert's partner, Armand. This is actually one of the few films that I could watch over and over again and never grow tired of it. If you've never seen The Birdcage, go out to your favorite video store and rent it. It's a must.
During the Baroque period -- from 1600 to 1750 -- male sopranos and altos comprised about 70 percent of all operatic singers.
Male sopranos in opera were a matter of necessity. Women, especially in countries where the Catholic Church had firm control, were forbidden on the stage so castrati played both the women’s parts and the hero as well. Nearly every church choir used pre-pubescent boys to sing the high parts in choral works because women were also not allowed to participate in church services. Thus, the finest of the boy sopranos were picked by music masters for castration.
During puberty a boy’s vocal chords enlarge enormously, caused by an increased production of anderogen hormones. Castration prevented the necessary flow of hormones and arrested growth. Afterwards the castrato would have the high voice of a boy soprano, but the lung power of a full-grown man.
Although castration did little to damage a castrato's intellect, it did pose serious health and emotional problems. Most castrati suffered from the effects of developmental hypogonadism, including infantile penis and an underdeveloped prostate. They also had more developed subcutaneous fat than the normal male, fat deposits localized on the hips, buttocks and breast areas, fatty deposits on the eyelids, and skin that sometimes appeared wrinkled or swollen. The arms and legs of many castrati were unusually long as compared to the torso (the long bones never stopped growing), which made them look distorted.
Many of the castrati’s well-documented personality disorders were a direct result of their disfigurement, as well as their inability to lead normal sex lives. They were neither man nor woman, but something in between. On one hand they were much admired for their singing, but on the other they were taunted unmercifully about their condition.
Castrati tended to be fat, volatile, conceited, and almost impossible to get along with. Composer George Frederick Handel’s notorious shouting matches with his castrato Senesino, for instance, were well-known throughout England.
On the other hand, especially when it suited their purposes, a castrato could be entirely charming. Sometimes they were so respected and adored that they were able to gain great political influence. Farinelli, for instance, soothed the king of Spain with the same four songs every night. This gave the castrato a decided advantage for the king’s attention and literally made him a power behind the throne.
There were other ways in which the castrato reigned supreme. On the stage, he was the undisputed star. A composer was merely hired help who labored at the castrato’s pleasure. If, for example, the arias written for a castrato did not please the singer, he could demand -- and receive -- a complete rewrite. If the composer balked, which he seldom did, then the castrato would take the music and libretto to his own composer for the necessary alterations.
Farinelli was the least troublesome of the castrati, but even he had his moments. One night he was performing in an opera in which one aria was accompanied by the orchestra and a solo trumpet. The trumpeter was a man of great skill who had been brought in especially for this performance. In the middle of the aria, Farinelli decided it would be fun to challenge this renown trumpeter to a musical duel. On they went for some time, each matching the other note for note, the audience cheering them on. The trumpet would play a difficult flourish and Farinelli would follow. Then Farinelli would perform an impossible run that the trumpet would duplicate. Just as the contest appeared to be a draw, the trumpeter faltered on a very high note and Farinelli won the contest. The crowd went wild. The trumpeter, like the good sport that he was, leaped on the stage and shook Farinelli’s hand. Only after the audience had composed itself was the opera allowed to continue.
Farinelli was the last great operatic castrato. Audiences were beginning to tire of Italian opera seria (serious opera) by 1760 because plots were getting sillier and sillier. The comic opera and the ballad opera were gaining in popularity and there was no place in those genres for the castrato. And the new generation of composers, now coming into favor, refused to put up with the shenanigans of a castrato.
