La traviata Felice Varesi and the tenor Lodovico Graziani. The next day, Verdi wrote to his friend Emanuele Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter: ""La traviata" last night a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers'? Time will tell." Coincidentally, as Philips-Matz points out, an Italian translation of the play "La Dame aux camélias" was being presented just a short distance from La Fenice. While there were demands for productions from impresarios in various Italian cities, Verdi was loath to allow them unless he could be sure of the strength of the singers, and in spite
Variation on a Theme (play) sack, a shocking-pink cocktail dress in pleated chiffon, a casual ensemble of blouse and pedal-pushing slacks, and a two-tiered ball-gown in navy-blue pebble-crèpe – the lean extremities of Margaret Leighton nervously protuded." Variation on a Theme (play) Variation on a Theme is a 1958 play by the British writer Terence Rattigan. It is a reworking of Alexandre Dumas, fils's nineteenth century novel and subsequent play "La Dame aux Camélias". Directed by John Gielgud, the play opened (after a pre-London tour), at the Globe Theatre, London, on 8th May 1958, with the following cast: While not received well by the critics,