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
Phantom of the Opera (1976 musical) Australia and New Zealand, on national tours. Phantom of the Opera (1976 musical) Phantom of the Opera is a 1976 musical with book and lyrics by Ken Hill. It is the first musical adaptation of the novel "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux, about the hideously disfigured Phantom's amorous obsession with the magnificent, naïve singer, Christine. Hill wrote the original English lyrics to the music of Verdi, Gounod, Offenbach, Mozart, Weber, Donizetti, and Boito. Hill’s "Phantom of the Opera" was the first musical version of the story by Gaston Leroux and has enjoyed financial success. Hill's musical inspired