Under the artistic direction of Ira Siff (who plays diva Mme. Vera Galupe-Borszkh with hilarious aplomb), La Gran Scena Opera Co. really lovingly and cleverly spoofs the foibles and absurdities of opera. The divas in drag have real talent, and the scenes from well-known operas that they choose to excerpt are authentically parodied -- so it makes for a successful match. The ludicrously long death scenes are even more drawn out, the catty rivalry between divas is even more exaggerated, and the costumes and hairdos -- and appropriate accompanying behavior -- are even more flamboyant. Framing the whole melee of scenes from Bizet's Carmen, Rossini's L'Italiana In Algeri and Verdi's La Traviata, Il Trovatore and Aida is a running commentary by the mistress of ceremonies, the grande dame of opera herself, Miss Sylvia Bills (James Heatherly as a thinly-disguised version of Beverly Sills in a really funny take). She reads from a script in hand and "purportedly" misreads and mispronounces names and "accomplishments," though all of it is in great fun.
The performance begins with all the divas in full splendor doing a staged concert of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" that simply drips with as much comedy as the divas do in diamonds. Also very effectively funny is the supposedly "interactive" entrance from the audience of the grizzled legend, Gabriella Tonnoziti Casseruola (Keith Jurosko), the world's oldest diva, who steps onstage for a round of applause and stays to sing "Home Sweet Home," complete with skips, from her popular old 78 rpm recordings. The whole thing ends with a frenziedly funny country-western romp, with the whole cast participating.
