por Antonio Mejías-Rentas
Rolando Villazón
TENOR RETURNS: Critics praised Rolando Villazón for his March 23 performance in Vienna in the lead role in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, his first appearance on an opera stage in over a year.
The 38-year-old Mexican tenor had been recovering from vocal chord surgery. The performance was his second return to the opera world. He had taken a break in 2007 to give his voice a rest.
Villazón had been a rising opera star when he made his debut some ten years ago. His powerful voice was often compared to that of a young Plácido Domingo. But critics noticed that his power dimished as he took on more challenging roles.
He has several other performances scheduled this year.
ONE LINERS: Rita Moreno, now 79, is expected to tell her life story in a review being staged at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and set to open in May 2011… actor and TV host Mario López told People he and actress Courtney Mazza are expecting a child; the unmarried couple met while performing on Broadway in A Chorus Line… Dominican singer-songwriter Juan Luis Guerra has been added to the program of next month’s New Orleans Jazz Festival
Ricky Martin revela lo que ya se sabía
OUT AND PROUD: Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin won overall praise and support last month when he admitted that he’s gay, something fans have suspected for years.
Rita Moreno
Martin made his confession in a letter he posted March 29 on his web page and followed with a message on the popular Twitter social network. The letter, later confirmed by a publicist, ended with the statement: “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.”
Martin, 38, said he decided to come out of the closet after working for several months on his memoirs. “From the moment I wrote the first phrase I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time. Things that were too heavy for me to keep inside,” he wrote. Martin began performing as a child, as a member of the group Menudo, and was a top-selling recording artist in Latin America before the release of his 1999 self-titled album in English, a multiplatinum hit.
In 2008 Martin revealed ”also through Twitter” that he had become the father of twin boys born via surrogate. … Hispanic Link.
