(by Elisabetta Stefanelli).
Sofia Coppola's La Traviata opened at the Opera of Rome on Sunday in a production featuring costumes made and designed by Valentino with backdrops created by Nathan Crowley, the set designer for the Batman films.
Amid a minimalistic set with touches of gold on the plaster and the shining chandeliers, Violetta descended a winding staircase that seemed to be made of lace in a black dress whose plunging neckline and long oil-green train elicited applause from the sundry film stars who came from the Cannes film festival to attend opening night.
Maison Valentino creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were also behind the costumes worn by Flora and the chorus - ranging from classic white alongside pastel hues in the first scene to the black, sensual transparencies of the second dance in the third act. This time Violetta is seen in a red Valentino dress taken right out of a romantic illustration for a nineteenth-century book. Later on she reappears in virginal white and a 19th-century cape in a sort of huge industrial greenhouse with gigantic bonsai in Oriental vases. Violetta was played by Francesca Dotto and Maria Grazia Schiavo, with Antonio Poli (later Arturo Chacon-Cruz) at her side in the role of Alfredo. The final standing ovation were for the work done by all - the orchestra, the chorus, the cast, and Cremona-born maestro Jader Bignamini, associate director of Milan's Verdi Orchestra. In attendance on opening night were Sofia Coppola's father, director Francis Ford Coppola, British film star Keira Knightley, socialite and reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, and Italian movie stars Monica Bellucci, Christian De Sica, and Stefania Sandrelli. The audience also included Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, and Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan.
The performance was followed by a party at the Acquario.
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