From Stage to Screen
This week Franco Zeffirelli 's new feature film of VERDI'S opera Otello, with Placido Domingo in the title role, opens in London.
For a year, a BBC team has followed the director on location in Italy and Crete, recording the transformation of an operatic masterpiece into a spectacular cinema entertainment. His previous movies of La traviata and Pagliacci aroused controversial reactions from audiences, and Otello has already been greeted with enthusiasm by the public and outrage by some critics.
For Zeffirelli has not only adapted the work to the screen; he has made major alterations and additions to it. This programme tells the story of Zeffirelli's radical reinterpretation of the opera. Those taking part include Franco Zeffirelli Placido Domingo Katia Ricciarelli
Justino Diaz , Tom Sutcliffe Charles Osborne and Harold Rosenthal. Photography JOHN ELSE
Film editor CHRISTOPHER HALE
Executive producer DENNIS MARKS Producer DAVID SWEETMAN