Two excerpts from Tonight We Sing: one legend portraying another legend, great Ezio Pinza in the role of his predecessor, Fyodor Chaliapin. Silly movie with gifted but stocky tenor Jan Peerce lip-synced by a Hollywoodier actor (Byron Palmer) and a raft of musical virtuosos. 1) Pinza sang Boris many times, but always in Italian. Coached in Russian, came through in flying colors, Chaliapin with slight Italian accent. 2) At home in French, Pinzas Mephistopheles is pure Satanic, & in final prison trio of Faust (with Peerce/Palmer & luscious Roberta Peters) he is magnificent, the way he sweeps the cape around himself and skulks toward the shadows of hell as Marguerite turns to God in supplication. (Grisly touch, that guy on the torture rack.)
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