This summer he will sing the role of Alfredo in Verdi's "La Traviata" for his debut in Santa Fe, N.

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Or Richard Gere taking Julia Roberts to La Traviata in Pretty Woman?

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Well, it will be more suspenseful than, say, the opera "La Traviata, " which has had more or less the same plot since 1853.

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The heartbreak of La Traviata has been drawing tears from it's audiences for more than a 150 years and not just in the movies.

NPR: Verdi's 'La Traviata:' The Original 'Pretty Woman'

Domingo has also made more than fifty music videos in addition to four feature films of operas: Carmen, La Traviata, Otello and Tosca, with the Mantua Rigoletto forthcoming.

UNESCO: Detailview | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Invited back the following year to perform the role of the heroine Violetta in Verdi's "La Traviata, " she met Ms. Clayton, who was playing Violetta's best friend, Flora, in the production.

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Even so, La Traviata moves her to tears.

NPR: Verdi's 'La Traviata:' The Original 'Pretty Woman'

But the first two productions, a mediocre "La Traviata" and the New York premiere of "Prima Donna" (2009), a debut opera by the eccentric pop-music celebrity Rufus Wainwright both staged this month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music do not augur well for its artistic future.

WSJ: Prima Donna | La Traviata | New York City Opera Makes a Case for Its Own Demise | Opera Review by Heidi Waleson