The greatest producer of second-rate opera in the U.S. is Alfredo Salmaggi. He moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan last week, set up his scenery and props in 55th Street's Turko-Egyptian Mecca Theater, led off with a roof-raising performance of Traviata. Competition from the Metropolitan Opera House bothered Impresario Salmaggi not a whit. "My singers," he averred with a lordly shake of his shoulder-length hair, "are mucha better than the Metropolitan."
For 99ยข Impresario Salmaggi gives his public its money's worth. His 28-piece orchestra drones out Verdi's melodies like possessed hurdy-gurdies. His tenors and sopranos bellow lustily. His triumphal scenes contain not only...
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