merlinjones wrote:I never realized Adriana was in "It's a Wonderful Life" - - as a singer at Martini's! Uncredited. So says her IMBD listing anyway... I'll have to look for her next time.
I thought her only roles were SW and that on line in the Wizard of Oz! I had no idea she ever did anything else! That's awesome!
Mary Costa did record and sing extensively following Sleeping Beauty, more so than Adrianna or Ilene.
Her CD recording of the opera, "Capuleti and Montecchi," still sells on Amazon. She recorded "La Boheme" for RCA Victor; the LP and CD reissues are out of print but can be found online. Her famous "Musetta's Waltz" from that recording is sometimes included on many compilations, including "Opera Goes to the Movies," and that's still available.
She appeared in the 1971 MGM Musical, "The Great Waltz," and that film's soundtrack was released to LP and can be found easily on eBay or Amazon.
Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, Mary frequently sang on a number of popular variety shows. Unfortunately, variety shows don't show up in reruns that often, but you can buy "unofficial" recordings sometimes of "Hollywood Palace" and some of her other shows on eBay and elsewhere.
Worth checking out if you can ever find a video or audio recording: in 1971, Mary Costa and Robert Goulet were Bing Crosby's guests on his Christmas Special. Mary sang "Carol of the Bells" quite beautifully, as well as a duet with Goulet on "O Holy Night," and a well-remembered duet with Crosby on a medley of bell songs, and on "White Christmas" toward the end. Had she not pursued opera, she could have been a terrific standards singer.
Jackie Kennedy greatly admired Mary's singing. The day after JFK was assassinated, she called and requested Mary to sing at the president's Los Angeles memorial service. That recording can be seen at the Kennedy Library, and it's sad, but interesting, to think of Mrs. Kennedy reaching out to the voice of Sleeping Beauty just a day after that famous event. One of Mrs. Kennedy's first public appearances after her period of mourning was to see Mary's debut in "La Traviata" at the Met in January 1964.
There are a couple of Mary's performances uploaded on YouTube if you search for her, opera, and one from Jack Benny.
Just a marvelous performer, and she was quite well known in her day - even appeared on the cover of TV Guide!
Forgot to mention one really neat thing that happened in the summer of 2001 that did not get a lot of publicity because there weren't as many blogs and sites yet to help promote it, and it was held in Tennessee.
Mary Costa is a celebrity ambassador for Childhelp USA, and as a fundraiser, she threw a party in honor of Ilene Woods. Disney brought up the characters from WDW, complete with Cinderella and her coach, and each person who bought a ticket received the WDCC coach figurine.
It was really fantastic, one classic Disney princess hosting a ball in honor of another! Roy Disney appeared in a recorded greeting to start the evening, and then an orchestra played and Mary and Ilene danced with guests later in the evening.
Just one of those terrific Disney events that will probably never happen again.
I thought her only roles were SW and that on line in the Wizard of Oz! I had no idea she ever did anything else! That's awesome!