Pavarotti

From the time Luciano Pavarotti was a teenager, he pleaded with his father, FERNANDO, to help him to become a famous opera singer, an ambition that Fernando was adamantly against from the start. After secretly enlisting the services of CARLO BENINI, a respected but militant vocal coach, Luciano enters a prestigious singing competition that his father had previously competed in as a teenager. Upon losing the competition, a devastated Luciano resorts to selling insurance door to door to support his wife and new child. When a last minute cancellation allows Luciano to fill in for the world’s leading opera tenor at the New York Met, Fernando is again dismissive of this opportunity. After a virtually unknown Luciano captivates the audience in New York, he befriends a Brooklyn based manager named HERBERT BRESLIN who believes Luciano could be a major star, but a sudden plane crash momentarily convinces Luciano’s family and friends that he has perished. Upon learning that Luciano survived, Herbert flies to Italy to pitch the idea of headlining Madison Square Garden, an audacious suggestion met by strong resistance from everyone in the opera world. When the Garden unexpectedly sells out not one but two nights, it solidifies Luciano’s place as an opera phenomenon, but the moment is bitter-sweet when he learns that his father was a no-show, despite Luciano having purchased his plane ticket. It’s eventually revealed that Fernando’s reluctance to accept Luciano’s success is due not from his lack of faith in his son, but from resentment of his own failed opera career. As Luciano’s popularity and wealth begin to take a toll on his personal and professional life, he struggles with making a choice between the two. Following the death of his beloved mother, Luciano insists that Fernando at long last come clean about his resentment for his success, which he does. Upon Fernando’s death, Luciano bids farewell to the world in one final concert at the NY Met where his career began.