Cynthia Clarey

The story of a disabled beggar in Charleston,S.C. who falls in love with a prostitute, this is the first filmed version of Gershwin's opera which uses Gershwin's own orchestrations and practically all of the music, with only one major cut.

Sir Peter Hall directs and Raymond Leppard conducts this 1984 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's final opera, "L'Incoronazione di Poppea," often considered his very best. Set in ancient Rome, Monteverdi's historically based opera seria chronicles the passionate love affair between Emperor Nero and his deceptively seductive second wife, Poppea.