Placido Domingo’s eyes watered and his voice quavered. After portraying dozens of characters over a half-century on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, also known as the Met Opera, he got emotional being himself.
"For us, the opera singers, it is just like Frank Sinatra said: New York, New York, if you made it, you made it everywhere," the 77-year-old singer from Spain said Friday night when he was honored on stage for the 50th anniversary of his Met debut.
Domingo's career with the Met started a few days ahead of schedule on September 28, 1968, when he replaced Franco Corelli as Maurizio in Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur" with Renata Tebaldi in the title role and Fausto Cleva conducting. Domingo's performance Friday in the title role of "Gianni Schicchi," the third opera of Puccini's "Il Trittico," was his 52nd role and 695th appearance at the Met as a singer and conductor.
Placido Domingo performs for the crowds before the Formula One Grand Prix of Mexico at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico, October 28, 2018. /VCG Photo
During a ceremony after the opening opera, "Il Tabarro," Met general manager Peter Gelb gave Domingo a pair of gifts.
"Since you have owned this stage for your entire career, we thought we'd give you a piece of it. So this was removed from the stage earlier this week," Gelb said before bestowing a chunk of flooring.
Then he presented Domingo his leather jacket from a 1990s performance of Verdi's "Otello," which had been dipped in gold to mark the golden anniversary.
"This puts you and Elvis in the same class," Gelb said.
Placido Domingo(L) attends a rehearsal for the opera "Thais" in Beijing, January 31, 2018. /VCG Photo
Domingo's wife Marta, son Alvaro and two grandchildren looked on as a montage of Domingo's career was shown, including a scene from "Sesame Street" with Miss Piggy.
"The generations go, go, go. I'm very happy to be surviving," Domingo said.
A few bouquets of flowers were thrown from the audience.
"There are some of you that were at my debut," he said. "You are the judges. You are the ones that make an artist. So thanks to you I have been coming for a half-century."
A file photo shows that Placido Domingo (C) sings the Chinese traditional song "Kangding Love Song" with Chinese singer Song Zuying(R), accompanied by pianist Lang Lang(L) at the Bird's Nest Summer Concert in Beijing, June 30, 2009. /VCG Photo
A tenor for most of his life, Domingo switched to baritone parts about a decade ago. He has sung 150 roles, by his count.
"The last 20 years, it seems to me like that they are five," he said after the ceremony. "Time passes so quickly. One wishes that the time, maybe we can do it in a slow motion now the next years."
Domingo received a standing ovation of about two minutes when introduced. Four famous colleagues were recognized from the audience: Martina Arroyo, Sherrill Milnes, Teresa Stratas and James Morris.
"I think Placido's a miracle, and one of the most amazing parts of it is Marta," Stratas said.
(Top Photo: A file photo shows that Spanish opera singer Placido Domingo speaks during the opening of the exhibition "Tenorissimo!" at the Theater Museum in Vienna, Austria, May 16, 2017. /VCG Photo)