Puccini

Within the first five minutes the audience has plenty enough time to learn that Puccini was a vain, boisterous, cruel womaniser... or maybe it's just the flamboyant interpretation of the lead actor, whom I do not know and don't care even to check his name.

Just when you think you have enough of Puccini and his provincial world that should be Tuscany, but looks a lot more like England, the scene cuts to modern times, to a choir rehearsal of one of Puccini's operas...

Weird and useless to the plot and then back again to the past, with three old gossiping men who fill the purpose of providing the background story of Puccini, wifey Elvira and their stormy relationship, followed by an ugly, jealous confrontation at the table between Elvira and maid Doria, during which Puccini just pretends he's not there. What a gentleman... but more of the bouncing forward is to follow.

However, by then I had enough. Even if I like some of Puccini's music, this is definitely one of those cases where the creator and his opera should be kept separated, especially when the creator is unpleasant and his story narrated in such an unappealing way.