Maralin Niska "The Best Thing of All" Blitzstein "Regina" Houston Grand Opera '80 Remastered

From the broadcast of the excellent Houston Grand Opera production of "Regina" in 1980, Maralin Niska sings "The Best Thing of All", Regina's signature song that could have been written for or by Ayn Rand. Marc Blitzstein based his opera on "The Little Foxes" by his friend Lillian Hellman, in which both Tallulah Bankhead and Bette Davis had huge successes in different media. Cleaned and remastered by Tormented Artist Ink Studios (me). One of the surprising surviving recordings of the under-appreciated operas and musical works by American composers; why should the residents of worlds light years away be the only ones who can enjoy these lost broadcasts, albeit thousands of years from now? If I had had three lives I might have spent one of them trying to start an opera company that did only the musical works of American composers, and suggest that would be a good mission for the NY City Opera to bring it out of the wilderness. One note - pity they cut the line of dialogue just before this, Regina to her brothers - "Why don't y'all go home?". Southerners (I was raised one) are very polite to company and incredibly rude to siblings.

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[jonthesYT]

It was identified as Niska on Google - a placeholder to upload to Youtube as a video. Try to enjoy the music anyway.

[jonthesYT]

I don't think a lot of American works are more flawed than their European equivalents, a matter of prejudice (literal) against new works (or newer, "Regina" is 65 years old now) and anything domestic. And of course the US theater system does pull composers towards major chords (see Weill). But opera isn't my real area of expertise, though there are a few I'd love to direct, this one in particular. The acting in it is very good, unusual - so little time. Thanks.

[erstebratsche]

Very nice photo of Renata Scotto, but why when this is Maralin Niska?

[me3775]

(continuing on) . . . There is a huge amount of such music out there that deserves hearing by a new audience. Thank you for what are surely time consuming efforts of researching, collecting, restoring the audio and sharing these works. Your dedication gets my standing ovation.

[me3775]

If I had three lives, I'd spend one of them partnering with you in getting that opera company off the ground. The canon of operas & musicals by American composers is replete with gems of individual arias and songs, such as this one, that never get heard because the complete show was either lost in the shuffle of time, had no life beyond its commissioning for a specific occasion or production company/venue, or had limited commercial appeal that reduced its exposure/longevity/profitabili­ty.