- Title: ITALY: FILM DIRECTOR WOODY ALLEN AND BAND PERFORM IN VENICE
- Date: 1st March 1996
- Summary: VENICE, ITALY (MARCH 1, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF VENICE / GONDOLAS ON CANALS (4 SHOTS) 0.15 2. LV U.S. FILM DIRECTOR WOODY ALLEN AND COMPANION SOON YI PREVIN WALKING STREETS OF VENICE (2 SHOTS) 0.28 3. SV ALLEN SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 0.51 4. SV EXTERIORS OF LA FENICE (3 SHOTS) 1.04 5. LV/SV ALLEN TOURING REMAINS OF LA FENICE (2 SHOTS) 1.23 6. LV/SV ALLEN ON STAGE / SPEAKING (ENGLISH) (2 SHOTS) 1.42 7. SLV AUDIENCE / WOODY ALLEN AND BAND PLAYING (2 SHOTS) 2.07 SEQUENCE 3 TRANSCRIPT: ALLEN: "IT (THE FENICE OPERA HOUSE) WAS AS BEAUTIFUL A THEATRE AS EXISTED IN THE WORLD. IT WAS IRREPLACEABLE AND THIS IS A HORRIBLE CATASTROPHE. WE HAVE TO SEE WHAT CAN BE DONE IN THE FUTURE TO GET IT REBUILT." SEQUENCE 6 TRANSCRIPT: ALLEN: "WE WERE SHOCKED BY THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FENICE. THE CONCERT IS DEDICATED TO THE FENICE THEATRE AND THE PROCEEDS WILL GO TO HELP REBUILD IT." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 16th March 1996 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VENICE, ITALY
- City:
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA8JUE4RS14WC2Q6IIYGDH3QFW2
- Story Text: United States (U.S.) film director Woody Allen on Friday (March 1) promised money and support to help rebuild Venice's famous 18th-century Fenice opera house which was gutted by fire a month ago.
After surveying the skeleton of the neo-classical theatre, Allen pledged the proceeds from a concert held on Friday as part of his European tour playing the clarinet with his New Orleans Jazz Band.
The house, which staged the premieres of many Verdi operas in the 19th century, had been closed for restoration since August last year and Allen's concert with his six-strong band was the event scheduled to reopen it.
Speaking as he walked about Venice with his companion Soon Yi Previn, Allen called the fire "a horrible catastrophe".
"It was as beautiful a theatre as existed in the world. It was absolutely irreplaceable...(but) it's over, it's been done. We have to see now what we can do in the future," he said.
La Fenice, the Phoenix in English, lost its roof and sumptuous scarlet and gold tiered interior in the blaze on January 29.
Instead he played to a packed house at the nearby Goldoni theatre, where tickets cost from 70,000 to 150,000 lire (45-90 U.S.
dollars) per seat, with a programme featuring "music from the streets and dance halls of New Orleans".
Estimates put rebuilding costs at a minimum of 100 million U.S.
dollars and the Italian government has set aside 12.7 U.S. dollars million for initial repair.
Allen plays in Milan next week before visiting Rome, Paris and Frankfurt. The tour ends in London on March 18.
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