TEATRO DON OPERATICO
Opera in Commercials
Date: April 11, 2000 07:47 AM
Author: Senta *
Subject: Opera in Commercials
I
have to admit my current favorite commercial is the one where
Brunnhilde chucks her spear at the guy sitting in the audience who
is
using his cell phone. You have no idea how many times in recent
years I've wished I had a spear for the exact same purpose.
Date: April 11, 2000 10:16 AM
Author: Alan Bromberg
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Senta, the problem with spear-chucking is that the dying scream as
the spear hits home can be as annoying as the cell phone. If you
can get close enough, Mace works much more quietly.
Date: April 11, 2000 10:20 AM
Author: Senta *
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Alan,
In the commercial I'm referring to, her spear nails his cell
phone. Good aim, that Brunnhilde.
Date: April 12, 2000 01:07 PM
Author: Seth Lubin
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Senta wrote: "I have to admit my current favorite commercial is
the one where Brunnhilde chucks her spear at the guy sitting in
the audience who is using his cell phone."
That also is my favorite "opera commercial". However has anyone
noticed that the soprano is singing the words: "Vissi d'arte". Now
that really makes me laugh and she really has good aim. I also
like when the cell phone is shown showing "Opera just got
interesting."
Date: April 13, 2000 06:59 PM
Author: Tenore Maggiore
Subject: Opera in Commercials
I think a favorite blooper of mine where opera was used in a
commercial is the Italian pasta sauce advertised with music from
Carmen (a French opera).
Date: April 11, 2000 10:08 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: A Baritone in Commercials
I
have a shocking confession to make: I write commercials to pay the
mortgage ( - and I hate the trend of using operatic music to sell
products ).
However, my baritone friend has asked me to write a commercial in
which he will star and make lots of money. I'm racking my brains
here
as I glance at the account list - spring water, low fat spread,
toilet rolls, healthcare products, charities, building materials,
fruit juices, wines and sherry, hair restorer (I kid you not),
department stores, a luxury hotel, car rentals, pasta sauces,
vitamin products - and my favourite, a product which clears up head
lice, called Lyclear!!!!!
Can
anyone steer me in the right direction, so that I can make my
baritone friend a millionaire? All suggestions (especially the crazy
ones) accepted gratefully!!!!!
Pippo
Date: April 11, 2000 10:26 AM
Author: Alan Bromberg
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Pasta sauce? How about "Raguletto?"
Date: April 11, 2000 11:19 AM
Author: Zerlina
Subject: Opera in Commercials
*groans*
Oh, Alan! For shame!!
(Just teasing....that was cute.)
Zerlina
Date: April 11, 2000 12:41 PM
Author: Alan Bromberg
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Zerlina - Skippy made me do it.
Alan
Date: April 13, 2000 05:47 AM
Author: seth
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Alan, how about a toothpaste commercial with FLOSShilde.
Date: April 13, 2000 06:48 AM
Author: Alan Bromberg
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Pretty good, Seth. If the fruit juices include apple, we could
have "Mon core s'ouvre..."
Date: April 11, 2000 10:27 AM
Author: Michael Williams
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Well, let's see. Baritone arias that fit your client list. Hmm..
How about Iago's "Beva!" aria for the wines and spirits folks?
For vitamins, maybe Leporello's catalogue aria?
And for hair restoration, what else but "Hairy tu" from "Ballo"?
Date: April 11, 2000 10:37 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: Opera in Commercials
'Hairy tu' ?????? ( OR 'Hairy too' )
Oh Michael, are you sure you never worked as an advertising
copywriter???
(guarding the idea jealously as my own)
Pippo
Date: April 11, 2000 10:44 AM
Author: Michael Williams
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Consider it yours. I hope you and your baritone friend make a
mint.
Date: April 11, 2000 11:23 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: A Baritone in Commercials
Michael, bad news. The hair restorer client thinks 'Hairy
tu' from Ballo is too mournful and solitary. Now he's
looking for something more upbeat, preferably a scene where
the no-longer-bald baritone is joined by an admiring
soprano. ( Could be a job for Tall there?? )
Back to the drawing board.
Pippo
Date: April 11, 2000 12:48 PM
Author: Dennis Ramos
Subject: Opera in Commercials
HEY FIGARO!!!!!!
Date: April 11, 2000 03:49 PM
Author: Michael Williams
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Ok, let's not get discouraged. The client is boss.
"Figaro" sounds good. He's loved by a soprano. "Si vuol
baldare, Signor Contino"?
Date: April 11, 2000 07:51 PM
Author: Balding Baritone (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Not bad at all!
Will have to think about this one.
Date: April 12, 2000 09:42 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: Opera in Commercials
The hair restorer client likes the sound of the Figaro
commercial 'Se vuol baldare', but says he will have to
spend the usual six months researching the concept
with males aged 25 - 55 in the desired income bracket.
Meanwhile ... the Head Lice Remover client has heard
about our operatic campaign on the grapevine and is so
jealous that he wants one too. This is causing great
friction amoung the account teams in the agency and I
may just have to write an opera about it. (If Skippy
is interested, we are casting for the part of the Evil
Head Louse next week. )
Date: April 12, 2000 11:20 AM
Author: Michael Williams
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Well, your man for writing an opera is Don O. I
wouldn't dare try to compete with him in this genre.
The head lice people are a challenge. I'll ponder a
bit.
Date: April 17, 2000 08:31 PM
Author: Don Operatico (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Baldo in maschera? (Cf. "Hairy tu".)
Date: April 18, 2000 10:32 AM
Author: Michael Williams
Subject: Opera in Commercials
There you go! Unfortunately, Pippo's client
seems set on a comic opera with love interest.
And the hero has to be a baritone. That limits
the field quite a bit. Any obscure Donizetti we
could revive for the purpose?
Date: April 18, 2000 11:00 AM
Author: Alan Bromberg
Subject: Opera in Commercials
How about "Maria di Rogaine?"
Date: April 18, 2000 09:29 PM
Author: Don Operatico (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Not bad! Unfortunately not very comic in the
original (the plot is rather similar in fact to
Baldo).
I mention a couple of rare Donizetti items in a
post below. One is Vitamina Cornaro (as in
Caterina Cornaro), the other is Il Campanello,
which is a comic opera and, being set in a
pharamacy, seems perfect for advertising health
products and vitamins. Maybe he sells hair
stuff, too; who knows?
Date: April 14, 2000 01:57 PM
Author: Susie McLean
Subject: Opera in Commercials
I'm afraid that "Figaro" hair restorer idea has
already been taken. Refer to Elmer and Bugs in "The
Rabbit of Seville".
Date: April 13, 2000 12:17 AM
Author: Mustang
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Better than that for the wine and spirits- Hamlet's "O vin"? The
uninitiated don't have to know that he's trying to drink himself
into a stupor!
Date: April 12, 2000 06:18 PM
Author: Don Operatico (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
I
was thinking about this one last night, but unfortunately couldn't
remember all the stuff we were advertising (my printer must have
skippied yesterday, or tenored). Anyway, here are some ideas I was
trhowing around at c. 2 AM.
For
health foods: "Granola" (get it? Granada? Granola? Yuk yuk!);
"Ombra mai tofu"; (this one's actually from Tall Soprano originally,
but
about three years old) "Zerlinetta, my garbanzo" (from DG; are
garbanzos health food?).
For
lice: "I'm gonna wash that louse right outa my hair". Did you
say
these were supposed to be for baritone only? Or did a soprano
come into it somewhere? I don't remember.
Complete operas as commercials (not all of these will be appropriate
to the products mentioned above):
Carmen and Segreto di Susanna (cigarettes; cf. The Flying Dutch
Masters); Freischütz (NRA); Internetraviata (cybersex).
For
that hair thing; Rogainetto, La Gro'-'Em (pretty bad, I know).
"Il bald-en".
Food: Caviarteria rusticana, La Cilantrola. Lucia di Land O' Lakes.
Oreo. Food Lion's Zauberflöte. Health food: The Dried Bean Curd of
Love. Lofat'n'grin.
Cars: Schauspieldirector has a Madame Hertz, no?
Chryslerdämmerung.
Fordsa del Destino. Rosenkadillac.
Soft
drinks: Coca Cola's Elisir d'amore; La Pepsicole (Perichole);
Pepséas et Mountaindeue.
Fast
food: Verdi's Macdonald's; Lady Macdonald's of Mtsensk. Girl of
the Golden Arches.
Gadgets: Die Walkman. Microsfot's Don Giovanni: "Deh vieni alla
Finestra 2000". (A judge ruled that Microsfot had an illegal
monopoly, by the way; the decision could have major ramifications
for the Web. Stay tuned.)
Date: April 13, 2000 05:11 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Don O, These are good - you must have been drinking something
potent at 2 a.m. to come up with Die Walkman and Der
Rosencadillac!!! But I'm shocked to find that you have stolen my
top-secret idea for our Microsoft pitch, where our tenor hero
sings that great aria from IRIS, " Apri la tua Finestra 2000,
amore mia ..." It's bad enough having Skippy in my computer,
without you hacking in as well!
Date: April 13, 2000 06:58 PM
Author: Don Operatico (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Actually the "Deh vieni" idea is pretty old, and i posted
something like it in the dim recesses of SR history, a time that
now only exists in printout (and in some sloppy handwritten
notes when I didn't have access to a printer.
Unfortunately I was doing drugs last night too (listening to
Cenerentola on the radio; and you know what? I actually
recognized a singer's voice!!! I though she sounded like Agnes
Baltsa and she was Agnes Baltsa! COOOOL!) And I came up with a
few more:
For lice:
"Lyclear, viens!" (to the tune of "Léonore, viens!"
"Non più andrai, farfallon pedocchioso [louse-covered]"
"Vedrò, mentr'io sopsiro, free of lice un servo mio!"
For toilet rolls: "Toilet roll, en garde! Toilet roll! Toilet
roll!" (from the opera, Charmin).
For luxury hotels:
"Aprite un Palmer, OK?" ("Aprite un po' quegli occhi")
"Palmer siamo"
"Come Palmer vezzoso" (Belcore as hotel pusher)
For healthcare products etc.:
"Da che sposa vitamina" (a lovely baritone aria from the
little-known Donizetti opera, "Vitamina Cornaro". Aside; Does
your baritone friend know that there's lots of good stuff for
baritone in Donizetti operas? People talk about the Verdi
baritone while not acknowledging the role Donizetti played. But
I digress.)
"Der Herbalife-salesman bin ich ja"
Dulcamara's patter aria in Elisir.
Lots of good stuff in Campanello: the whole opera is about a
pharmacist who gets perescuted by a former lover of his wife.
The said former lover (a baritone, by the way) comes disguised
as a Frenchman, a hoarse opera singer and an old man with an
incredibly long prescription for his wife.
I couldn't think of much for fruit juices. It's obvious that
your baritone friend won't be advertising Hi C. "Là ci darem la
mango" is all that comes to mind.
Date: April 16, 2000 05:02 PM
Author: Jodie
Subject: Opera in Commercials
There was a commercial for pasta sauce (I think) a few years ago
that
used the "Song to the Moon" music from Dvorak's Rusalka. At the
end the announcer says "That's Italian!"
Date: April 17, 2000 08:49 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: Opera in Commercials
I swear to you that the Rusalka 'Italian' commercial was not one
of mine!!!
(Although I have written commercials for Napolina pasta sauce and
successfully avoided all references to opera, even tho' one radio
commercial opened with an Italian wife in bed with her lover.... )
I was wondering about having a balding baritone singing
(transposed ) 'Ritorna Vincitor' to his emerging new hair as he
uses the hair restorer product.
Date: May 05, 2000 08:44 PM
Author: Don Operatico (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
The only trouble with "Ritorna vincitor" is that, after the
first two words, it turns into a tragic piece because of the
conflict between Aida's love of her country and her love for
Radames. Go with "Se vuol baldare", that's my unsollicited
advice for the day.
Date: May 03, 2000 04:08 PM
Author: Lani Kai
Subject: Who is singing that???
Ok, since you all are talking about opera in commercials...can
anyone tell me who is singing O Mio in a new computer
commercial...I just can't think!!! It is going to be bugginh me
until I find out!! ARGHHHH!!! Lani
Date: April 30, 2000 08:15 PM
Author: Joan Abel
Subject: Opera in Commercials
The
oat bran industry has been awfully quiet lately. How about
coaxing them back with "Bran-gaene's Watch," get Kellogg's & Rolex
to do a co-op!
You
might sell more macho SUV's with an excerpt from "Car-men."
AbelCat, getting ready to duck the barrage of shoes!
Date: May 05, 2000 08:45 PM
Author: Don Operatico (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
"Taurus, four-door, anti-lock breaks! Taurus, four-door, Taurus,
four-door!"
Date: May 02, 2000 10:57 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: Opera in Commercials
I
have another confession to make. My agency group has just produced
a TV
commercial for a loo roll which has animated loo seats of every
description moving up and down in time to an 'a capella' version of
Handel's Water Music!!!
It may sound like a very tasteless idea, but it's actually
hilarious. The male 'humming chorus' sound as if they're singing
'Bum
bum bum-bum, bum bum bum-bum bumbum.... ' I have to put a VO
endline onto it in studio this week (very 'tongue-in-cheek'
delivery).
OMIGOD - well, it's better than listening to the Sarah
Not-so-Brightman CD a friend just sent me!!!
Date: May 02, 2000 12:26 PM
Author: Beverly Sperry
Subject: Opera in Commercials
For those who need a translation: "loo roll" equals "toilet
paper."
And Regina, you certainly do not need to twist my arm to get me to
attest to your elegance at the cultural events in Ireland which
you grace with your presence.
Best regards,
Beverly
Date: May 03, 2000 06:12 AM
Author: Pippo
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Dear Gracious Beverly,
Thank you for the kind words. How much do I owe you??
Just heard that my baritone friend will be singing Escamillo
("Toilet roll, en garde" ) in the opera Charmin, er Carmen, in
Cork at the end of this year. The fee will not make him a
millionaire however, so he needs a glossy TV commercial more
than ever. ( So do I,'cos I like to win advertising awards and
go to long lunches to celebrate! )
Pippo
Date: May 03, 2000 10:02 PM
Author: Don Operatico (operatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Simply stage the entire opera as a commercial and you could
all be making the big moolah. There are several ways you could
do it. Make sure the cigarette brand produced by Carmen and
Co. is indicated by a large billboard during the Habanera.
Have your baritone friend use Charmin toilet roll pack instead
of a red cape at the bull fight. Have a large ad for some
florist or other (could even be Amazon.com) during the flower
song. You get the idea.
Date: May 03, 2000 08:10 PM
Author: JUDSON
Subject: Opera in Commercials
No
one else has yet commented on the television commercial I saw
this week.
Am I
the only one thus far to see Charlotte Church singing the
wonders of the TARGET stores?
Date: May 03, 2000 09:12 PM
Author: Lani Kai
Subject: Opera in Commercials
No, I have seen it many times...nice jaw..."tres chic!"
Date: May 04, 2000 03:50 PM
Author: Vincenzo
Subject: Opera in Commercials
I saw the Target commercial not long after you warned us -- I was
trying to forget about it.
Date: May 04, 2000 04:01 PM
Author: Odeen
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Thanks for reminding me, Judson. I was listening to Frida Leider
and then the image of Church crept up. Thanks a lot.
Date: May 04, 2000 09:04 PM
Author: JUDSON
Subject: Opera in Commercials
Well, Odeen, better than the other way around.
Operatic Commercial Sponsors