This is what I've been waiting for all my life, right? A small, flexible company performing little-known and/or rare operas in an old-timey-times theater right down the street from my apartment! It's happening. McCaddin Memorial Hall is situated in complex on Berry St. between South 2nd and South 3rd.

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On November 6, 7, 8, OperaOggiNY, a newish opera company geared toward providing dedicated attention to young singers, will present Franco Leoni's 1905 one-act opera L'Oracolo.

A 600 seat, "theater" complete with 50 foot proscenium arch raked stage and a balcony, plenty of fly space with classic brick and wood and plaster construction has been found and is about to be opened to the public by a collaboration between OperaOggiNY and the St. Peter and Paul parish.

Rehearsals, started this week, are already bringing serious opera back to the theater. With Music Director, Bill Lewis, (coach to none other than the Met's Marcello Giordani and accompanist to all of Ronan Tynan's appearances) as part of the mix, these two very serious performers are preparing L'Oracolo, by Leone. Although presented within the last 2 years in a concert version in Manhattan, this is the first time that the work has been staged in an extremely long time. This one act verismo opera. composed by Leoni, who was a student with Puccini and part of Ponchielli's studio, will not disappoint. Set in San Francisco's China Town, cerca 1900, it was all the rage at the Met while Antonio Scotti was a star.

I don't even know if L'Oracolo's any good, but first of all, Scotti's look was MAJOR:

Even at its peak, my tail wasn't that good. This photo (with all its unnecessary dithering) makes me want to buy a clip-on piece so I can braid it and helicopter it around the club while I've serving dramatics. Like so:

Secondly, Chinese characters' names transliterated into Italian:

Uin-Scî, vecchio sapiente, (Baritono)
Cim-Fen, padrone d'una taverna d'oppio, (Baritono)
Uin-San-Lui, figlio di Uin-Scî, (Tenore)
Hu-Tsin, ricco mercante, (Basso)
Hu-Cî,un bambino, figlio di Hu-Tsin, (Ruole mute)
Ah-Joe, nipote di Hu-Tsin, (Soprano)
Hua-Quî, governante di H-Cî, (Contralto)

Try to sing one of those without cracking up. Try it.

Thirdly, the opera's set in San Francisco's Chinatown, just like my favorite Chinese-American farce, Big Trouble in Little China. Get into this movie. There's a character with the unlikely name of "Egg Shen," and you get to see a young Kim Catrall soaking wet without there being any oversexed innuendoes you find in her later Sex in the City œuvre. There's so much going on in Big Trouble—someone splashing alley pothole puddle water into Kurt Russell's eyes (hi, Bettina), James Hong saying "creamy jade," and a special effects team allowing their Garbage Pail Kids card collections get the best of them:

If L'Oracolo is half this good/bad, I'll be thrilled. It seems like a pretty serious sing for "Ah-Joe":

Continuing the name-based lulz, the soprano in the video is Graciela de Gyldenfeldt.

At first I was pissed because Amazon has not gotten on the ball with their MP3 download service, so I couldn't/can't listen to this recording with Sutherland and Gobbi. But THEN, I read the description and saw this little tidbit, which is—I'm sorry—the best thing in the history of opera:

Set in San Francisco's Chinatown and ending with death by pigtail strangulation, the opera had its world premiere on 28 June 1905 at Covent Garden.

I am so there.

See also:

• Asian riff
• Ching chong
• Inner Wang