Ousted Tenor Blames Low Blood Sugar

French tenor Roberto Alagna waves in front of Milan's La Scala opera house, Italy, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006. Tenor Roberto Alagna, who walked off the stage during a performance of "Aida" after being booed, kept a pledge to show up at La Scala despite being dismissed from the show - giving an impromptu performance in the piazza outside the famed opera house. Alagna sang a few notes from "Madam Butterfly," Thursday evening as "Aida" was going into the fourth act. Alagna was originally slated to performed the role of Ramades in the season's third staging of Verdi's masterpiece Thursday, but the opera house management canceled his engagement for walking off the stage during Sunday night's performance. Alagna had said he would turn up at La Scala anyway _ and did. (AP Photo/Alessandro Grassani/Fotogramma) (Alessandro Grassani - AP)

MILAN, Italy -- Roberto Alagna, the tenor who quit the stage at Milan's La Scala after being booed, said Friday he plans to sue the famed opera house for damaging his reputation by dismissing him from the cast of "Aida." He claimed he suffered low blood sugar and couldn't continue the performance.

Alagna became the first singer in memory to leave La Scala's stage during a performance. Video footage shows him giving the audience a fisted salute and walking off Sunday night amid a chorus of boos following the opening aria, "Celeste Aida." He was immediately replaced by a stunned understudy, Antonello Palombi, who wore jeans for the first two acts.

"I was fine when I started, but this problem with my metabolism, if I am very emotional or stressed, my system consumes sugars very quickly," Alagna said by telephone from the airport in Milan on Friday. "After that happened to me, the sugars went down dramatically. I couldn't stay on my feet, I had to sit. I didn't have the strength."

Lawyer Marco Rocchini said they would sue La Scala for harming Alagna's reputation and said he has a certificate from Alagna's physician confirming low blood sugar levels Sunday night.

"He is accused of abandoning the stage in a fit. The damage to his image is enormous," Rocchini said, noting that the story had traveled around the world.

A spokesman for the opera house said Alagna never mentioned feeling unwell after leaving the stage and hasn't turned over any medical certificate to La Scala management.

"If a singer is sick, he goes off stage, tells the musical director and a doctor verifies the condition, we inform the audience and the understudy goes on stage," said Carlo Maria Cella.

But Alagna mentioned no illness to general manager Stephane Lissner or to the musical director, who approached the tenor and urged him to resume the performance, Cella said. Alagna's personal physician was present, and no one requested a consultation with the opera house's doctor, he added.

La Scala doesn't plan to sue Alagna for any damage to the "Aida" production, Cella said, but noted it was uncertain whether plans to release a DVD of the production would have to be shelved because of his absence.

"What happened, happened. No one wants to criminalize Roberto Alagna," Cella said.

Alagna acknowledged he didn't raise the medical issue when he spoke to reporters on Monday, but said he had the certificate in hand.

The tenor complained that conductor Riccardo Chailly didn't stop the orchestra and that it would have been awkward to have gone back on stage after his understudy had already taken over.

"He should have stopped for at least five minutes, to renew the mood," Alagna said. "The worst thing, is that no one came to my dressing room afterward."

Alagna said the incident has left him exhausted and that he hasn't been able to sing at all since last Sunday. "I've lost the desire. I've never gone more than two days without singing in my whole life," he said.

He did return to La Scala before leaving Milan, however, making an impromptu appearance Thursday evening as "Aida" was going into the fourth act inside. Alagna, who was to have been on stage for his third performance of the season in the role of Ramades, sang a few notes from "Madama Butterfly" outside on the piazza _ but he said he sang the line "sotto voce."

Wearing a scarf and holding a rose, he waved to onlookers.