aria

Other than a couple of good tunes and a single popular aria, this vapid setting of Shakespeare’s play makes it one of the least notable works in the standard operatic repertory and the least worthy “Romeo and Juliet” adaptation I know, Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” included.

Composer jokes included an arresting scene of this Don writing an aria worthy of PDQ Bach.

When the personification of Mandrex asks her why she’s allowing him to make a film about the end of her life, Maria tells him that she wants an aria as part of her third act.

The film may lull periodically, but all else fades away when the prima donna takes center stage for her aria.

In this version, Callas sings this aria while telling her maid that she has just seen the appearance of a ghost near a fountain.