Forget “Rigoletto.” Show me the rigatoni.
Page Six has learned that famously peckish tenor Luciano Pavarotti squirreled snacks away around the Met to keep him going during performances.
Spies say that while giving a backstage tour of the Met, its legendary director Peter Gelb told guests: “Pavarotti, who had an insatiable appetite, often kept secret caches of his favorite pasta in the wings so that he could wander off stage between arias and have a snack.”
The Met was a favorite venue of the Maestro, who died in 2007.
He found fame in the USA after his 1972 performance of “La Fille Du Régiment” at the famed Lincoln Center hall which reportedly “drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria.”
(We now like to imagine it left him in the mood for a swift spaghetti alla carbonara before the next act).
Pavarotti — who found worldwide fame as one of the “Three Tenors,” alongside Placido Domingo and Jose Carrera — also caused a sensation when he appeared in the first “Live From The Met” in 1977 when his “La Boheme” reportedly drew one of the biggest audiences ever for a televised opera.
In 1976, he went on a diet with the help of medical staff in Modena, who allowed him 1,800 calories a day.
“One sixth of what I had been eating,” he told the Times. “But I can have everything… It’s just that everything now must be little.” — even the 60 grams of pasta he was allowed. We wonder if his docs knew about his backstage reserves.
Gelb gave the special tour for friends of society grand dame Barbara Tober, who’ll be honored at the annual On Stage at The Met Gala May 20.
The evening will be chaired by starchitect Peter Marino and Frank Sciamewith a leadership committee including Deborah Boarda, Joel Ehrenkranz, Caroland John French, Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, Leonard and Judy Lauder, Daisy Soros, and Henry Timms.
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