with Angela Down as Adelina Patti
The story in words and music of the most celebrated prima donna of her day
Narrator Nigel Anthony with Douglas Blackwell John Livesey
David March, John Rye and Irene Sutcliffe
Patti was only seven when she was lifted on to a table and sang one of the most exacting arias in the repertoire - Casta Diva from Bellini's opera Norma. She was 16 when, In 1859, she made her operatic debut in New York in Lucia di Lammermoor and from then on she delighted audiences with the brilliance, purity and charm of her singing.
Her fees were exorbitant, her wealth vast and conspicuous. At the height of her fame, she bought a castle in Wales and it was there that she died in 1919 at the age of 76. Script PEGGY BRANFORD Producer ALAN haydock (Irene Sutcliffe is in ' Children of a Lesser God ' at the Albery Theatre, London)