CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is getting a grand but hilarious opera send-off before it plunges through Saturn’s atmosphere and vaporizes Friday. An actor from TV’s old “Star ...

A costume sketch for the character Moore from “The Dragon of Wantley” by Seth Bodie, costume designer. Poking fun at the lofty conventions of opera is a practice that’s almost as old as opera itself.

The fires of love among Manuela, Jose Maria and Rosario were first ignited on the streets of Madrid during the golden era of zarzuela, Spanish lyric comedy operetta of the 1890s. The romantic and ...