Teddy Tahu Rhodes Reprises "Don Giovanni" Despite Costume

Click to enlarge Teddy Tahu Rhodes.
(Photo: Jeff Busby/Opera Australia)

"As far as grand entrances go, it was unforgettable. When opera's bass-baritone pin-up, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, bounded on to the Opera House stage six years ago wearing, ahem, not all that much as Mozart's infamous rogue, Don Giovanni, the audience audibly gasped. The 195-centimetre-tall Tahu Rhodes, who likes to keep in shape, was dressed in leather boxers, boots and a cape. Rarely has so much rippling flesh been seen on an operatic stage. 'Actually the original [costume] was a little less than that,' says Tahu Rhodes, 45, who's reprising the role for eight performances of Don Giovanni at Sydney Opera House from September 24 until October 15, when Jose Carbo takes over for the rest of the season. 'It was like Speedo leathers and I asked them to go to the boxer-type thing...

Trainer Steve Curran

because I wasn't so keen on that.' In fact, Tahu Rhodes isn't that keen to discuss his physique (but he is hoping his trainer, the hardcore Steve Curran from City Gym, will come to see him on stage). 'So much of it can be made about the body and I want to make it about the character, if I can,' he says. Tahu Rhodes says that although reprising the role is 'like putting on an old glove,' audiences will find 'he'll be a different don this time - he's a slightly older don.' [Source] Two more photos of Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the Opera Australia production of Don Giovanni after the jump.

(Photo: Jeff Busby/Opera Australia)

(Photo: Jeff Busby/Opera Australia)

From the Vault: 1978 "La Flûte Enchantée" With Alain Lombard

The French label Barclay was purchased by Erato Records and in the late 1970s Alain Lombard teamed up with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg for a series of recordings that included this gem, along with Così fan tutte (Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Teresa Stratas, David Rendall, Jules Bastine) and Faust (Montserrat Caballé, Giacomo Aragall, Paul Plishka). Now owned by Warner, the below issue has never made it to CD or MP3 format.

Mozart: La Flûte Enchantée [Die Zauberflöte]
Recorded May 29,  & 30; June 1-3, 5-7, 1978
Palais de la Musique et des Congres Strasbourg, France; Orchestre de Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Choeurs de L'Opéra du Rhin, Alain Lombard (cond.); Kiri Te Kanawa (Pamina), Edita Gruberova (Reine de la Nuit), Kathleen Battle (Papagena), Helena Döse (1re Dame), Ann Murray (2e Dame), Naoko Ihara (3e Dame), Peter Hofmann (Tamino), Philippe Huttenlocher (Papageno), Kurt Moll (Sarastro), José van Dam (L'Officiant) and Norbert Orth (Monostatos).
Barclay 960 012/014 P1978 (3 LPs)