1/ This 1978 TOSCA has now been shown 3x, and the (far superior) Zeffirelli prodn has been shown once. That's 4 TOSCAs in recent weeks. Now, on 1hand, TOSCA deserves its place as an opera staple. The late revered critic Joseph Kerman, who claimed to like opera but rly didn't, https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/1358549860404854784

2/ called it a "shabby little shocker," showcasing the chasm between his taste that of fans. (He also predicted TURANDOT wd disappear from the repertory, so... yeah.) On other hand, that's quite a lot of TOSCAs close together, and the only reason to show this one (as opposed to,

3/ say, reshowing the Zeff, or perhaps the current McVicar prodn) is that this is Black History Month and the star of this TOSCA is Shirley Verrett, a mezzo with a solid high range who was into soprano roles in the 70s. (She was one of the best Lady Macbethts ever.) The previous

4/ showing of this perf was as part of Pavarotti Week, and yes, Looch's Cavaradossi is a good reason to watch it if you haven't already. Cornell MacNeil's Scarpia is well sung, but it's much better acted, with little if any loss of voice, in the Zeff. Alas, there'll pr'ly never

5/ be a MacNeil Week, bc most of that great Verdi baritone's work, and the best of it, was b4 the age of Met vids. So afaik there's no vid of his Rigoletto, or his Carlo V in ERNANI. So what've we got for Mac in the vid library? Umm, 2 Scarpias and one Gianciotto in

6/ FRANCESCA DA RIMINI. From good to great, but oddly, no Verdi*. -- So yes you shd watch this (daytime tomorrow, it you're watching the Super Bowl) if you're in TOSCA-deprivation mode, which @MetOpera has rendered hardly likely. And yes, @MetOpera, I do realize that these

7/ webcasts are *free*, and also *flex-timeable* within a 20-hr space, so, thank you.

*Mac does indeed appear as the elder Germont in Zeff's 1982 movie of Verdi's TRAVIATA. Levine, who conducted, always believed in him.

8/ "Yo David, Met Vid Libr here. We've also got Mac as Trinity Moses in MAHAGONNY. Y'know, Brecht/Weil." That's *right*! And he rly got into doing an opera in English, esp one that starts with him being part of a car breakdown. He was a machinist before his voice got discovered,

9/ and when he retired, he spent his time in his own tool & die shop in his garage in Charlottesville VA. Opera News did a "Reunion" interview with him there.