A sad melody

27146627

Costumed as a flamboyant bull fighter for his role as Escamillo in "Carmen," — a role he sang 85 times during his 28-year career as a Metropolitan Opera baritone — and donning a barber outfit for the title role in "The Barber of Seville," Frank Guarrera looms larger than life from his mural at Broad and Tasker streets.

But the curtain closed on the final act of the native South Philadelphian’s life Nov. 23 when the 83-year-old died at his home in Bellmawr, N.J., due to complications from diabetes, 62-year-old daughter Valerie Bisquert told the Review. Born in Philadelphia on Dec. 3, 1923, Guarrera lived on Latona Street growing up, but Bisquert could not remember what block.

Anyone in doubt of what talent the South Philadelphia High grad possessed need look no further than a life-changing moment in ’48 for the then 24-year-old: Upon hearing Guarrera sing in a Metropolitan Opera "Auditions of the Air" broadcast, legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini arranged for a formal audition and later selected him to make his debut the following summer at the famous opera house, La Scala, in Milan. The La Scala performance was the first of several under Toscanini.

The Met audition was weeks after graduating from The Curtis Institute of Music in Rittenhouse Square, an education that straddled a two-year Navy stint. Guarrera was already married to wife Adelina and their daughter was just 2 when his career began as Toscanini took notice; his other son, Dennis, now 55 and living in Glendale, Ariz., with wife Margie, had not been born yet.

"Due to the fact that he was so young, that was just a piece of luck that kind of fell into his lap," Bisquert recalled of the Toscanini moment. "I don’t know if his career would have gone the way that it did if that didn’t happen."

Guarrera is among South Philadelphia High School’s long list of famous grads. He graduated in ’42, when the school at Broad Street and Snyder Avenue was called South Philadelphia High School for Boys. Southern’s revered and widely respected music instructor, the late Jay Speck, fostered the young Guarrera’s talent like he did Enrico DiGiuseppe, a Met tenor who died Dec. 31, 2005, and many others. After high school graduation, Guarrera returned to Southern to sing at assemblies.

Former student Sidney Rosenfeld, 75, who lives in Oberlin, Ohio, and is a professor emeritus at Oberlin College got to hear the baritone. "I’m one of countless Southern High pupils who recall Frank Guarrera singing yearly at our school assemblies. Whether many of us at that age had ever attended an opera, I doubt. But there, on the stage before us, was a real opera singer from South Philly and our own school. What we heard was familiar and new at the same time.

Instead of ‘Toreadori/Don’t spit on the floori/Use the cuspidori/That is what it’s fori,’ Guarrera, still in his twenties — but dashing and self-assured — was singing Bizet’s aria in French."

Soon after Rosenfeld and his class graduated, Guarrera was singing as Escamillo in Carmen on the Metropolitan Opera house’s New York stage.

Born in South Philly, Bisquert moved with her parents to Manhattan when Guarrera joined the Met. During his 28 years as a baritone for the prestigious opera company from ’48 to ’76, Guarrera sang 680 performances in 35 roles. More than any other Met baritone he sang the role of Escamillo 85 times as well as 29 performances as Guglielmo in "Cosi fan tutte." From ’78 to ’88, Guarrera was professor of voice at University of Washington in Seattle until his wife suffered a stroke that left her very ill and had the couple relocate to Bellmawr to be around other relatives and friends.

"He wanted to bring her home to take care of her because her two sisters were still in the area and they had friends there. My father was incredible, he took care of my mother 24 hours a day," Bisquert of Washingtonville, N.Y., recalled of the care Guarrera provided until his wife’s death in 2000.

A 40-year-old Italian restaurant that served as Adrian’s in Rocky VI and where fare is served with a side of aria, Victor Cafe, 1303 Dickinson St., played a pivotal role in the artistic development of many South Philly opera singers — Mario Lanza, DiGiuseppe and Guarrera.

Toscanini himself used to come to the restaurant quite a bit, Victor proprietor Lola DiStefano said. Hundreds of photographs of famous folks — including the esteemed conductor — who have either dined or performed there, line the walls of the establishment.

DiStefano recalled how Guarrera started out as patron when he was in his teens. "He used to come to the cafe to hear the music, which encouraged him to start taking music lessons," the 87-year-old told the Review.

It wasn’t long before Guarrera struck a friendship with the late Henry DiStefano, former Victor owner and Lola’s husband. A room of the restaurant, today still replete with old Victrolas (phonographs) and thousands of LP records, is where Frank and Henry were often joined by a frequent guest and friend of Henry’s, the late actor John Carradine — actor Keith Carradine’s father, Lola recalled. "They would listen to records and talk until 4 a.m. I just remember those wonderful sessions that went on for hours in the back room," she said.

When Guarrera’s career took off, he never forgot the restaurant where he had spent many evenings, often returning with Adelina and their children.

"Frank Guarrera was just a very good friend. He never forgot the Victor Cafe. He was a longtime friend who will be dearly, dearly missed," DiStefano said, adding she remembers the singer’s flair for storytelling. "He was an excellent raconteur."

In August, the baritone, his family and some friends had a gathering at the Italian eatery. Those hoping for a serenade were disappointed because Guarrera — in failing heath — gave his vocal cords a rest. Party goers still got to hear him sing, but on vinyl, Bisquert said.

The celebration came about because Guarrera wanted to show his granddaughters, Bisquert’s children — Nadine, 35, and Gina Rae, 26, the famous cafe he always spoke of so highly. "It was really a very special afternoon. I think that that’s probably the last time we were all together and we had this wonderful meal. Lola’s sons [Rick and Greg DiStefano] were there and I remembered them from the early days. [The DiStefanos] couldn’t have been more gracious. It’s kind of ironic that he loved Victor’s so, and this was the last place we were all together," Bisquert said.

DiStefano remembered the lovely time as well. "It was a big celebration. He got up and made a speech, there was a lot of music and a lot of the old South Philly people came and his friends," she said.

Guarrera is survived by his son, Dennis, daughter, Valerie Bisquert, and two granddaughters.