Stars: Placido Domingo, Aprile Millo

Summary: A star-studded production from New York's Metropolitan Opera with Aprile Millo and Placido Domingo in the lead roles, supported by the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; conducted by James Levine.

Verdi's tale of war, intrigue, jealousy and redemption through love set in ancient Egypt is interpreted by the masterful Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine. Starring internationally renowned tenor Placido Domingo as Radames and lovely soprano Aprile Millo in the title role, AIDA is better than ever!

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Writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television seriesThe Sopranosis nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home. This ambitious TV series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegiate mob clan and his own nouveau-riche brood.

The brilliant first series is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognisable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.

Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatisation of Mario Puzo's Godfatherepic, The Sopranossustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchman and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.

The first year's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional", perceptive and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	Italian
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	English And Chinese Menus
Subtitles:	Chinese, English, French, German, Italian
Year:	1989
Release Date:	November 20, 2000
Runtime:	158 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	073 001 9
Keywords:	Music, Aida, Opera, Works, Stage, Verdi, Giuseppe, Classical, Performing, Operetta, Arts
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts