The Enrico Caruso Room in Little Italy’s historic Grotta Azzurra Ristorante opened with operatic panache this week – and will continue with a weekly Tuesday evening series by featured duos plus Thursday night open mikes (with preference to advance sign-ups) all with the wonderful David Schaeffer on keyboards. After a delizioso dinner in the restaurant above, we descended into depths of the musical cellar and ascended to the heights of glorious opera – in a setting that was both warm and elegant. The opening show featured singers Shana Farr and Vincent Ricciardi, who offered a bravissimo blend of arias and selections from the classical repertoire – with a nod to operetta and musical theatre. The intimate setting of the downstairs grotto allowed for an up close and personal encounter with gorgeous singing and Italian-American history. And what a setting! Imagine a brick wine cellar with Romanesque arches displaying vintage memorabilia of the great Caruso –photographs, old acetate music discs and records, caricatures drawn by Caruso himself and other memorabilia, donated by Cav. Uff. Aldo Mancusi, founder and curator of the Enrico Caruso Museum in Brooklyn. Did you know that Enrico Caruso, the Italian-born tenor who ruled the international opera world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was the best-selling recording artist in the world in 1906? His acoustic recording of his theme song from the opera I Pagliacci outsold all concert and pop singers of the time? Neither did I, but this “homey” presentation of opera will your expand your cultural horizons, as the delizioso Italian food at the Grotta Azzurra Ristorante expands your um-waistline! Producers Mort Berkowitz and Les Schecter also host opera competitions and hope that the Thursday open mikes will offer “discovery” opportunities for young opera stars to be featured in the paid Tuesday night spots. I raise my glass of good Italian vino (wine) to their buona fortuna (good luck)! Happiness/Success Habits: Enjoy Your Comfort Zone…and Stretch It! I love listening to great singing and enjoying great food and wine – how about you? And even if hours of Wagner at the Met make you snooze, the combination of dinner and an intimate opera cabaret may win your heart. Sing Your Way Out of Stress ! Many of those magnificent arias are about miserable subjects, but set to music, even misery can be beautiful. Even if you’re not Caruso, try singing about your troubles (if only in the shower). Turning your troubles into song will be entertaining (at least for you) and you may cheer up – unless your neighbors bang on the walls or complain to the cops 🙂
Susan (“Dr. Sue”) Horowitz, Ph.D.
Book: “Queens of Comedy” (Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, and more!) www.smashwords.com/books/view/219367
Musical: “SssWitch”: www.ssswitch.net
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