giani, jinx, rodolfo... peter!

I don't know how I've missed it.

His true identity has been revealed in every program, but I misunderstood and though it just referred to who was singing, not to who was acting.

Even here, where the man has received a wake-up call and a request to re-run his first appearance at svf-8, I still didn't catch who he was.

 

Rather than have the video air again, Giani Canto answered Maria's request with a live encore of that performance of "Savannah G A"!

All gussied up in his lounge lizard style, hair perfectly coiffed, sunglasses firmly in place, I still believed it was Carlton Moe in that get-up.

I did!

I guess we choose to believe what we want, regardless of what our eyes and ears tell us, non è vero?

I had no problem recognizing the real person behind the character Jinx of Forever Plaid.

(That's him, bottom right, below Sparky and next to Frankie, who is under Smudge.)

One might think that was because they were so well featured in yesterday's program, but that would not be correct.

I've been in love for better than a year now with these four gents!

So, just when did it occur to me who Giani really was?

Not until this very moment.

He was hamming it up, per usual, and the tune was one of my favorites, Nessun Dorma.

So, he was doing these big arm movements when he grabbed his sunglasses and removed them... 

and, justthatfast, I finally recognized him!

This was the guy that did the Sinatra show last year for me and the bfe!

I had no problem identifying Peter Lake in this duet with Evelyn Saavedra, no problem at all.

For "O soave fanciulla", I had no problem recognizing that this was a couple who were trying to decide whether to go out on the town or to stay in at home, nor did I err in interpreting their eventual decision.

(Must not have been during a pandemic!)

And this was certainly Peter Lake, again as Rodolfo from La Bohème, this time writing a letter to his girlfriend and carrying on about her with his buddy, Marcello (played by James Wright).

"O Mimì, tu più non torni", he sang in that sweet tenor - oh, yes, I certainly knew who he was!

(Plus, he reminds me quite nicely of ETA Dwight Icenhower - good for sweet dreams!)

Even if his voice were not as pure, his sense of humor and comedic timing would still be a joy!

I just love that Forever Plaid has allowed these four to play with the video segments just as they had in person for SVF7.

The blooper reel for this final show had them posing in a mock-up of "The Creation Of Adam".

I think Michelango would have been rather amused, too!

(smile!)

I know it may seem that the grand finale was all about Peter...

but the show was two hours long and I've not touched on so much of it!

Perhaps I will expound upon that tomorrow, after I've had a chance to see the matinee encore.

I'm not promising that, though, so let me go ahead and thank Maria and Sherrill here and now for this fabulous VOICE festival in Savannah!

Here's hoping y'all have another twenty years of sharing opera with the lowcountry of Georgia... 

and beyond!

(They'll get the reference -

it'll be our inside joke!)

(smile!)