Days of Whine and Roses

First performance: Feb. 12,1978 THE CAST

Giovanni Amati, bass, wealthy grand duke of Rome's motion picture emporiums, age 72.

Anna Amati, mezzo-soprano, his wife, a former actress, age 42.

Giovanna Amati, soprano, their rebellious, nubile daughter, age 18.

Daniel Nieto, tenor, a tall, dark and handsome French kidnaper, age 31.

Maurizio Massaria, baritone, owner of a tobacco shop, another kidnaper.

Ferdinando Imposimato, baritone, a magistrate.

Chorus of Journalists, Villains, Friends

Place: Rome

Time: Winter Twilight

ACT I

Giovanna is sitting in a car outside her father's villa in the Via dei Villini. She is eating a pizza. Suddenly a van appears and three masked men jump out, seize Giovanna and bundle her off before she has time to sing one note. The villains bring her to a hiding place not far from her home. The police, in search of Aldo Moro, ring the kidnapers' doorbell on two occasions. When no one answers they go away. A few days later, the villains wrap up their captive in a plastic bag and drive to a more remote hideout. After languishing for days in her new quarters, Giovanna falls in love with Daniel. He too is smitten. Offstage he croons the aria Posa il tuo capo sulla mia spalla (Rest your head upon my shoulder). /

ACT II, SCENE 1

Some weeks later, the duke goes to Maurizio's tobacco shop to deliver 800 million lire ($925,000) in ransom. Soon Giovanna is released and reunited with her parents. They sing the triumphant trio Alfin ci ritroviam! (At last we are reunited!). The Chorus then sings the plaintive Benche liberata sia, Daniel ha rapito il suo cuore ribelle (Though freed is she, Daniel has kidnaped her rebellious heart). The police raid Maurizio's apartment, and he is carted off.

SCENE 2

Nearly a month after Giovanna's release, Daniel returns to Rome, yearning for his teen-age beloved. He showers Giovanna with bouquets of roses. Then he telephones her, singing Incontriamoci al Colosseo (Meet me at the Colosseum).

Meet me at the Colosseum, Cruise around on your motorcycle, And I will pick you up.

Giovanna waits at the appointed spot but Daniel fails to appear. Later he telephones again, and his golden voice soars passionately in the aria Incontriamoci in Via Veneto (Meet me on the Via Veneto):

Meet me on the Via Veneto Outside the Majestic Hotel At 5 o 'clock.

Giovanna speeds to the rendezvous on her scarlet Honda 500 motorcycle. She spies Daniel. At that moment lawmen appear. Daniel draws his gun, then drops it when the carabinieri fire warning shots.

The cruel love trap has been sprung. Giovanna struggles with the police, singing Daniel! Daniel! Perche arrestate Daniel?

(Daniel! Daniel! Why are you arresting Daniel?). She acknowledges that she has been the unwitting instrument of Daniel's capture. She sings the distraught Mi sentivo un Giuda! (I was a Judas!).

ACT III At the Amati residence, Giovanna stands at a second-floor window whining for the imprisoned Daniel. She sings Talvolta quando piancevo (Sometimes when I cried):

Sometimes, when I cried,

He came near me

And caressed my head softly.

He took my part against the other bandits.

I hold him in affection.

In the street below, her mother and father meet with eager journalists. The duke sings Sono distrutto (I am destroyed):

l am destroyed.

Everyone will think of

My daughter as an odalisque.

The Frenchman wrote

That if I did not

Give them 1.6 billion lire

They would send her:

back to me In slices.

Magistrate Imposimato appears, singing Una ragazza plagiata (A brainwashed girl):

This feeling of guilt occurs in a

brain washed girl,

Filled with fear, After long days of living with her

captor.

Anna sings a poignant aria lo perso ogni illusione (I have lost all illusion):

I have lost all illusion;

She is 18 and has debuted in

today's way, Not with a blue-eyed prince waiting

on his white horse,

But a prince who has the face of

Frankenstein, Who used carnal violence toward

her,

Who sent her treacherous roses.

Giovanna said she both loved and

hated

Her jailer.

I must say that if this Daniel

asked the hand of my

daughter With the ransom--and called me

Mama--

I would give him Giovanna

As a wife!

As the aria draws to a close, the rebellious Giovanna drops buckets of cold water upon her mother.

Giovanna glowers at the crowd. The Chorus joins in a spirited tutto, L'uomo che corteggiava (The man she sought):

The man she sought upon her

Honda, The lover of whom she was so

fonda,

One day with her will be united,

And together will their troth be

plighted!

The curtain swiftly falls.

(To be continued)

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