Festival Puccini produced the first performances of a Puccini opera on the lake shore, in front of the Maestro's house. In a provisional theatre, the "Carro di Tespi Lirico" with its stage built on piles stuck in the lake, a travelling opera company performed "La bohème" directed by Forzano and conducted by Mascagni. The same company came back in 1931 when Beniamino Gigli and Adelaide Saraceni performed in "La bohème", while Rosetta Pampanini and Angelo Michetti performed "Madama Butterfly". This was the beginning of what was to become a major opera festival. However, in the years before 1949, due to the political
Miss Saigon people predicted that "Miss Saigon", an import from London, would be the victim of a backlash. There is lingering bitterness against both the huge amount of publicity "Miss Saigon" has received and the battle by its producer, Cameron Mackintosh, to permit its two foreign stars, Mr. Pryce... and the Filipina actress Lea Salonga, to re-create on Broadway their number one award-winning roles." The show lost to "The Will Rogers Follies" for nearly every major award, though Lea Salonga, Jonathan Pryce and Hinton Battle all won awards. On 21 October 2009, a film version of the musical was reported to be