Tomorrow I promise to tell several of the “complex stories,” including the almost indestructible lock story. But for tonight ~ a couple of items:

First of all ~ One of the bright lights of the performing world is (at last report) gravely ill with cancer. Beverly Sills (AKA Bubbles – her childhood nickname), conquered the opera world opera house by opera house. It’s ironic that she didn’t perform at the Metropolitan Opera House until shortly before her retirement. She was an amazing performer, but more important she was a wonderful person as well. When she retired from singing she became a force for all the performing arts. She was heavily involved with the New York City Opera and the Met, but she also championed all the arts.

One story concerns her debut performance at one of the most legendary opera houses in the world ~ La Scala. The performance venue was known for “diva” behavior by its stars and those who performed. As a matter of fact it was expected. There is probably no person less like a diva than Ms. Sills.

As the story goes – there was a problem with one of her costumes ~ as in ugly, didn’t fit, etc. She made several attempts to work with the costumer to no avail. At this point, evidently, a hush fell over the rehearsal as people watched to see what she would do – and establish herself as a true diva.

In typical Beverly Sills fashion, she took the costumer’s scissors and proceeded ~ without a word ~ to cut the dress into shreds. She then handed the scissors back to the costumer and hung up the costume on the rack. Still without a word, she restarted rehearsal. Legend has it that there was applause from cast and crew – and she cemented her place as a La Scala Diva.

My thoughts and prayers are with her … and here is a performance from 1976 – singing Una Voce Poco Fa!!

Oh, and there was nothing “stuffy” about her either ~ here she performs with Danny Kaye and managed to completely “break him up” at one point:

She also performed with Carol Burnett as well as the Muppets. I couldn’t find a clip of her duet with Carol Burnett, but I did find this Muppet show clip (it’s not in English ~ so the speaking (not singing)is dubbed.