Caruso and the Quake

WHEN tenor Enrico Caruso performed Carmen at the San Francisco Opera House in 1906, he was the most famous man in the world - having been the first recording artist to sell a million copies.

The next morning, he awoke at 5am to find his bed rocking. He thought it was on a ship returning to his beloved Naples but he was at the centre of an earthquake which would kill over 3,000 people - the greatest natural disaster in America until Hurricane Katrina. This story of Caruso's dramatic escape is brought live to the Waterside Theatre on Saturday 13th November.

When Caruso fled his collapsing hotel, he thought his fame and money would provide a horse and cart to carry him out of the city - but the noise had startled all the horses and they'd run off. Worse still, when the housewives lit their stoves for breakfast, unaware that the gas mains had been fractured, they set fire to the city. The fire stations were built on landfill and had collapsed. When the fireman chopped their way out of the ruins, they discovered the water mains were broken too. The only way of stopping the fires sweeping the city was dynamite buildings to create fire breaks.

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Mexican Tenor, Ignacio Jarquin recreates Caruso as his trunk is stolen, he avoids the bayonet's of soldiers evacuating the streets and takes refuge in a city of tents in Golden Gate Park, and sings some of Caruo's most famous operatic arias and neapolitann songs - including the immortal 'O sole mio'. The show was one of the hits of the Edinburgh Festival where The Stage said it was 'Compelling' and the Scotsman praised Ignacio's performance as 'Opera singing with a pure fresh quality'.

'CARUSO AND THE QUAKE' will be at The Waterside Theatre on Saturday 13th November. Tickets 12.50. Concessions: 10. Telephone the Box Office for tickets on 02871 314000 or book online at www.watersidetheatre.com

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