Broadcasts Metropolitan Opera.

Designer Santo Loquasto is a pack rat who loves to scrounge around New York looking for bargains. So it comes as no surprise that when he was given a specific budget of "$30 a yard" for the chorus members' costumes in Luisa Miller, he worked his customary magic -- going to "some rather horrible shops on Eighth Avenue" and finding wool fabric for $4 a yard in colors drawn from a dusty, warm palette. Of course, Loquasto, who makes his Met designing debut with this production, had more flexibility on costumes for the principals: Luisa makes her entrance in a rose-colored dress that fits and flows like a Diane von Furstenberg (bye-bye, dowdy dirndls!), and Federica is bewitching in burnished gowns and jewels.

As for all that rich-looking wood in Count Waiter's house -- "It's plywood. That's the brilliance of the amazing technical team at the Met," says the three-time Tony-winner (who also has been Woody Allen's production designer of choice since Radio Days). "Initially I thought about a turn-of-the-century Italian look, based on the movie The Tree of Wooden Clogs. But [director] Elijah Moshinsky decided the emotional line of the opera worked beautifully in the English countryside of 1832, so I went for the Romantic realism of a Bronte novel. The fun of opera is that I'm working with a bigger canvas."

Canvases don't get much bigger than Red Hook, Brooklyn, circa 1950 -- and next up at the Met for the designer is William Bolcom's A View from the Bridge, which arrives in 2002 from Lyric Opera of Chicago. Odds are, opera-lovers will be seeing more of Loquasto's work in the coming decade. He says, smiling, "It's been a wonderful experience -- and it's great to be able to take the subway to work."

BROADCAST OF MARCH 2, 2002 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 12:30 P.M.

WAR AND PEACE

Music by Sergei Prokofiev Libretto by the composer and Mira Mendelson, after Tolstoy

 
WAR AND PEACE 
 
THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) 
Prince Andrei Bolkonsky 
               bar., DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY 
Natasha Rostova      sop., ANNA NETREBKO 
Sonya         mezzo, EKATERINA SEMENCHUK 
Host of the Ball  tenor, LEONID LYUBAVIN 
Footman at the Ball  tenor, RONALD NALDI 
Count Ilya Rostov       bass, JOHN CHEEK 
Mme. Akhrosimova 
                 mezzo, ELENA OBRAZTSOVA 
Mme. Peronskaya      sop., CLAUDIA WAITE 
Helene Bezukhova 
               mezzo, VICTORIA LIVENGOOD 
Prince Anatol Kuragin 
                    tenor, OLEG BALASHOV 
Lt. Dolokhov       bass, EVGENIJ NIKITIN 
Count Pierre Bezukhov 
                  tenor, GEGAM GRIGORIAN 
Bolkonsky's Old Lackey 
                 bass, VACLOVAS DAUNORAS 
Bolkonsky's Maid     mezzo, JANE SHAULIS 
Bolkonsky's Valet bass, MIKHAIL PETRENKO 
Maria Bolkonskaya mezzo, DELORES ZIEGLER 
Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky 
                bass, VLADIMIR OGNOVENKO 
Balaga             bass, SERGEI KOPTCHAK 
Matryosha           mezzo, MZIA NIORADZE 
Dunyasha       sop., MARJORIE ELINOR DIX 
Gavrila           bass, PHILIP COKORINOS 
Dr. Metivier        baritone, HAIJING FU 
French Abbe       tenor, LEONID LYUBAVIN 
Col. Vaska Denisov  bass, SERGEI MURZAEV 
Tikhon            bass, MIKHAIL PETRENKO 
Fyodor               tenor, GARY RIDEOUT 
Matveyev        bass, VLADIMIR OGNOVENKO 
Trishka     treble, TREVOR KAPLAN-NEWMAN 
1st German General      bass, CRAIG HART 
2nd German General 
                 bass, VACLOVAS DAUNORAS 
Prince Andrei's Orderly 
                     tenor, CHARLES REID 
Field Marshal Kutuzov bass, SAMUEL RAMEY 
Kutuzov's Adjutant   tenor, RONALD NALDI 
1st Staff Officer    tenor, ROBERT BAKER 
2nd Staff Officer   bass, RICHARD VERNON 
Napoleon Bonaparte bar., VASSILY GERELLO 
Gen. Compans's Adjutant 
                  tenor, DENNIS PETERSEN 
Marshal Murat's Adjutant 
                    mezzo, MARIA ZIFCHAK 
Marshal Berthier 
            bass-baritone, EDWARD CRAFTS 
Gen. Belliard          bass, ROY STEVENS 
Prince Eugene's Adjutant 
                     tenor, GARY RIDEOUT 
Napoleon's Adjutant     bass, LEROY LEHR 
1st Offstage Voice 
            tenor, EMMANUEL DI VILLAROSA 
M. de Beausset    tenor, LEONID LYUBAVIN 
Gen. Bennigsen     bass, SERGEI KOPTCHAK 
Gen. Barclay de Tolly 
                 tenor, IOSEF SHALAMAYEV 
Gen. Yermolov 
               bass, STEFAN SZKAFAROWSKY 
Gen. Konovnitsin     tenor, RONALD NALDI 
Gen. Rayevsky       baritone, HAIJING FU 
Capt. Ramballe      bass, JAMES COURTNEY 
Lt. Bonnet          tenor, BERNARD FITCH 
Capt. Jacqeau          bass, PETER VOLPE 
Gerard           tenor, VLADIMIR GRISHKO 
Young Factory Worker 
                     tenor, STEVEN THARP 
Shopkeeper        soprano, CLAUDIA WAITE 
Mavra Kuzminichna 
                    mezzo, MZIA NIORADZE 
Ivanov            tenor, DENNIS PETERSEN 
Marshal Davout    bass, MIKHAIL PETRENKO 
French Officer 
               bass, STEFAN SZKAFAROWSKY 
Platon Karatayev  tenor, NIKOLAI GASSIEV 
1st Madman         tenor, MICHAEL FOREST 
2nd Madman              bass, CRAIG HART 
French               sop., JANET HOPKINS 
Actresses   sop., BEVERLY O'REGAN THIELE 
2nd Offstage Voice    bar., JOHN FIORITO 
 
Conducted by VALERY GERGIEV 
 
Production: Andrei Konchalovsky 
Set designer: George Tsypin 
Projection designer: Elaine McCarthy 
Costume designer: Tatiana Noginova 
Lighting designer: James E Ingalls 
Choreographer: Sergei Gritsai 
Chorus master: Raymond Hughes 
Musical preparation: Susan Webb, 
  Yelena Kurdina, Kosta Popovic, 
  Joel Revzen, Eugene Sirotkin, 
  Irina Soboleva 
Assistant stage directors: Irkin Gabitov, 
  Gregory Keller, Peter McClintock, 
  Paula Williams 
Stage band conductor: Gregory Buchalter 
Children's chorus director: Elena Doria 
Prompter: Susan Webb 
 
War and Peace is a co-production with the 
  Mariinsky Theatre 
Production a gift of Alberto Vilar 
 
THE SCENES                    Timings (ET) 
  Russia, 19th c. 
PART I                         12:30- 
  Sc. 1 Outside Count Rostov's country 
          home, spring 1809 
  Sc. 2 St. Petersburg, the following 
          New Year's Eve 
  Sc. 3 Bolkonsky's townhouse, Moscow, 
          February 1812 
  Sc. 4 Bezukhov's house, May 1812 
  Sc. 5 Dolokhov's home 
  Sc. 6 Mme. Akhrosimova's house 
  Sc. 7 Pierre's study 
EPIGRAPH                            -2:11 
PART II                         2:46-4:38 
  Sc. 1 Battle of Borodino, August 25, 1812 
  Sc. 2 The same, that afternoon 
  Sc. 3 A peasant hut, two evenings later 
  Sc. 4 Moscow, a month or so later 
  Sc. 5 Outskirts of Moscow, some time 
          later 
  Sc. 6 Smolensk road, November 1812 
 
Announcer: Peter Alien 
Audio director: Jay David Saks 
 
INTERMISSION FEATURES 
Producer: Michael Bronson     Timings 
ChevronTexaco's Opera Quiz *    2:11-2:46 
Steven Blier questions Ken Benson, 
  Charles Osborne, Christopher Purdy 
 
Seepage 46 for information on submission of 
Quiz questions.