The Opera House

This is really a magnificent documentary. Why? A combination of lots of great old photographs, extremely intelligent use of operatic music, and a good choice of interviewees well-edited. (Yes, Lyontine Price is the best of them. She is really wonderful in this movie.)

If you have any interest in the Metropolitan Opera, and if you heard Saturday afternoon broadcasts in the 1960s with Price, Corelli, and the rest of the great singers of that era, you will really enjoy this movie.

At the end, after the conclusion of the documentary proper, we get to watch and hear Price sing "O Patria Mia" from her farewell Met performance in 1985. No, the voice was not as lush as back in the 1960s. But those high notes, including the last one, are rock steady, the result of a lot of hard work, study, and practice. I thought to myself: How many sopranos have we heard from the Met in their later years who were no doubt still fine actresses but whose voices wobbled terribly? Not here. Not at all. This was a great voice that went out great.