RIGOLETTO PLAY CAST - PROGRAM SIGNED CIRCA 1947 CO-SIGNED BY: EUGENE CONLEY, HILDE REGGIANI, ENZO MASCHERINI, UGO NOVELLI - HFSID 287903

RIGOLETTO OPERA CAST
Program for a 1947 performance by the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company, signed on the cast page by its four top-billed performers
Program signed: "Eugene Conley", "Enzo Mascherini", "Hilde Reggiani" and "Ugo Novella", 1 page, 6x9. Cast page from a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto by the Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company, October 8, 1947. The Philadelphia La Scala Opera Company gave 350 performances at the Academy of Music between 1925 and 1954, after which it merged with two other companies to form the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company. As its name implied, the company performed mostly the Italian repertoire. La Traviata, another work by Verdi, had been its premier presentations, and it first performed Rigoletto the following year. In the performance featured here, American tenor EUGENE CONLEY (1908-1981) starred as the Duke of Mantua. Conley performed with a many companies, including the New York City, San Francisco and Metropolitan Operas, was also a guest performer with the symphony orchestras of New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto. He was heard on many of the great world stages, including Covent Gardens, La Scala, Opera Comique and Teatro Colon. Italian baritone ENZO MASCHERINI (1910-1981) was his court jester (the title role). Mascherini, who had made his operatic debut in La Traviata a decade earlier, toured internationally after World War II, and gave a legendary performance of Macbeth with Maria Callas in 1951. HILDE REGGIANI, cast here as Rigoletto's daughter Gilda, Italian soprano HILDE REGGIANI had just finished a decade as leading coloratura at El Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires, 1938-1947. She made appearances in the U.S. with the Metropolitan Opera (debut 1939) as well as in Chicago and San Francisco. Reggiani, who was also heard on radio, was married to tenor Bruno Landi. UGO NOVELLA was featured here as Sparafucile, a hired assassin. Adhesive tape at corners and edges on verso. Edges lightly frayed. Signatures light but legible. Otherwise, fine condition.