Last week La Scala announced it will produce Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Phantom of the Opera”. “It is not so many decades since Arturo Toscanini’s decision to perform the works of Wagner at this temple of Italian opera was met with consternation. Even today, there is a faction of the Scala audience still sniffy about that Austrian interloper Mozart. Many opera lovers want La Scala to be faithful only to its great Italian traditions.” – The Age (Melbourne) (The Guardian)