Mansouri Lotfi - True tales from the mad, mad, mad world of opera

M y first memories of Lotfi? His voice and his smile.

We were both very young and had enrolled in an Opera Workshop class at UCLA. No, dear reader, opera wasnt my thing. An offshoot of the class happened to be a very sparse musical comedy department, which WAS my thing. Our first day in class had us all singing something we felt would show what we could do. I belted out You Cant Get a Man with a Gun from Annie Get Your Gun , using my very best Ethel Merman impersonation.

When it was Lotfis turn he sang something from some opera for the group, and I was mightily impressed. His voice was beautiful, yes, and what also got me was the way he presented himself. He didnt go the route of most of the other opera students (ultra serious) no, Lotfi smiled and looked and sounded as if he were having a ball. He made me almost wish I was a soprano so we could team up in some soaring operatic duet!

Alas, that wasnt to be. But, hooray, we DID wind up performing together because Lotfi was able to cross over into the territory I loved. Let me put it this way, he was a great Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls.

Our paths separated after a couple of years and Lotfi went on to have a fabulous career as one of the most successful opera directors of all time.

We kept in touch off and on through the years and have always been able to pick up where we left off when we were briefly reunited. When he retired from being the general director of San Francisco Opera, I had the great pleasure of being in the program with several others honouring his achievements. He even agreed to perform with me one of our long-ago duets from Guys and Dolls , Sue Me. He brought down the house.

I was thrilled when Lotfi asked me to write the foreword for this wonderful book. Not only is it an entertaining history of his remarkable career, I was a bit surprised to find myself laughing out loud at many of the anecdotes he tells. His sense of humor, which got him through many a snafu over the years, is very much intact! Not knowing much about the opera world (about as much as I know about rap music!) I was fascinated by the tales of the backstage AND onstage shenanigans. He doesnt hold back his opinions of some of the most famous singers he worked with. Not the least bit gossipy, hes downright honest and not afraid to express his views (although some are pretty funny).

Lotfis book is an intriguing look into the entire world of opera, which provides the reader with a real page-turner (even for neophytes). In other words, you dont have to know a darn thing about opera to eat up what he has written. Im proud to know him and to call him my friend.

Carol Burnett

P.S. He can still sing and, oh boy, that smile!

Acknowledgements

A fter any production the artists take their bows to the audience, but there are many behind-the-scenes people, the unsung heroes, who dont get to go before the curtain.

So it has been with this book, and I would like to give them their curtain calls:

First, a bow for my dear friend Janet Stubbs for her guidance in leading me to Dundurn. Without her this book may not have seen the light of day.

Ann Farris and Stanley Dufford for their invaluable search of pictures of long-ago productions.

Terry McCarthy, the excellent photographer who captured the alluring charm of my cover friend, Mme. Josephine, the camel.

My old friend Bob Cahen for his love of and devotion to opera, evident in his extensive and excellent photographic record of productions, and the greatest operatic stars, stretching back more than five decades.