The donkey is excellent, but there is also human interest in this entertaining revival, which features an assured performance by the 29-year-old mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in her first prima donna role at the Met.
Renzi, in her early twenties, is described by Ringer as "opera's first prima donna" and was, according to a contemporary source, "as skillful in acting as she [was] excellent in music".
For instance, McLean and Elkind devote an entire chapter to the swashbuckling former military intelligence officer John Wing -- described as "Enron's first true prima donna".
prima donna (first woman, contrasted with English).
As had been the case with Fanny, Adelaide's debut, as Bellini's Norma in Venice in 1838, made her famous overnight, and she was acclaimed in Italy and England as a first-rate prima donna and actress.
C.D.: Someone said to me the other day, "When did you first meet Donna?" And I said, "When I went to Versailles [for a joint French and American fashion show] in '73".
I first met Donna with my husband, actor/activist Victor Rivas Rivers in 1998 after she was told of Victor's efforts to raise awareness about domestic violence.
In Mr. Beresford's production the Duke of Mantua, that amoral playboy whose third-act aria "La donna e mobile" rings in everyone's head, is now Duke Mantua, "head of a thriving production company," in the words of the program.
It appears, as of this writing, that Lieberman made a darn good effort to be both "the first" and "the last" prima donna to throw such a tantrum; but that Senator Ben Nelson actually outwaited Lieberman, and may actually be the final recalcitrant vote -- over the issue of denying American women the free choice of healthcare plans, which may (gasp!) include abortion coverage.
These days, if you photograph bands, you have to apply to 12 different minders just to get 40 seconds with a rude prima donna.
