The Duets The Final Chapter Zip
The album featured orchestrated duets between Biggie and a number of popular rappers and singers, much like the previous LP Born Again (1999). Biggie's lyrics come from studio pieces of some of the songs he created during his life (his verse from "Notorious Thugs" in "Spit Your Game"), along with some less common lyrics (a freestyle from a promotional tape on "Hustler's Story"), & unreleased material (Biggie's verse in "Living in Pain" comes from an unreleased song from Ready to Die called "House of Pain") all remixed into duets. The package also included a DVD featuring previously unreleased performance footage and several of Biggie's music videos.
The Duets The Final Chapter Zip
On the day of the final dress rehearsal, as the cast assembled on stage, Fleming decided she did not want to be filmed at all, because her hair dresser had not completed the final touches to her satisfaction. No amount of begging from us or from the Met staff could budge her. A frantic call upstairs to the office of general manager Peter Gelb, brought him down to the auditorium. He went on stage and had a few quiet words with Fleming, and she acquiesced.
The climax of the opera comes at the end, when Tatyana leaves Onegin for the last time. Though she has always loved him, she must honor her marriage to a wealthy general. The lovers embrace, but Tatyana struggles to pull away as Onegin tries desperately to hold on to her. Cameraman Don Lenzer, shooting from the first row of the audience, kept them in a close two-shot for the entire scene; no shots of Gergiev. Then, as Tatyana finally tears herself away from Onegin and dashes offstage, Lenzer opened the lens, showing Onegin on an empty set, alone and desolate. Great camera work.
We planned to intercut the dress rehearsal shots of the the two soloists with close-ups of Gergiev conducting in a performance, but the Met would not allow cameras in the hall. We explained that we only wanted to set up against the back wall of the orchestra pit, well out of sight of the audience. Our Producer, Margie Smilow, finally obtained permission, but only for the last fifteen minutes of the opera. We pretended to be disappointed at this restriction, while rejoicing that we would get precisely the shots of Gergiev we wanted during the climactic finale.
During the intermission before the last act, we moved the camera into the back of the orchestra pit, and waited. At the start of the final scene, Lenzer slowly zoomed in on Gergiev. What he saw was the drama between Tatyana and Onegin playing out in the expressions on Gergiev's face, conveying to the orchestra the tumultuous emotions in the music.
Later, in the editing room, we intercut the shots of the two singers from the afternoon dress rehearsal with the conducting shots of Gergiev in the performance. This gave us the powerful finale we were hoping for.
Stargirl starts to prepare her speech for the oratorical state finals the following month. She practices her speech for Leo, and they begin to spend more time together outside school. She points things out to Leo that he does not otherwise notice, like the colors of doors or ants on the sidewalk. Leo goes with Stargirl to buy an African violet that she leaves on the doorstep of someone who recently had surgery, and Leo realizes that Stargirl was the one who sent him the porcupine tie after his fourteenth birthday.
Her first récordings appeared on á mid-90s album of duets with her father, but she made her proper debut with Love Hangover (1999), which featured covers of Diana Ross Love Hangover and Womack Womacks Baby Im Scared of You. 350c69d7ab