Larry Rivellese grew up in Long Island, NY, rooting for Mickey Mantle and listening to Enrico Caruso.
“I’ve always loved opera and baseball,” Rivellese, 71, said. He pursues those twin passions in The Villages, where Rivellese has lived for the past 13 years.
A few years ago he won “The Villages Got Talent” contest. He also auditioned for “America’s Got Talent,” dubbed as “the singing plumber.”
Rivellese didn’t make the national show but the retired plumber still hits the high notes around Central Florida and The Villages. He has appeared at the monthly “Talent Showcases” and also sang “The Phantom” at a special “Cabaret” performance last year at Savannah Center. He often earns standing ovations.
Here is a video of Rivellese singing “Nessun Dorma” at a “Talent Showcase” last year.
“I’ve studied and worked at opera most of my life,” Rivellese said. “I was just a kid the first time I sang ‘Pagliacci’ on astreet corner stoop, and an old Italian guy gave me some money for singing. I’ve been singing opera ever since.”
“When Larry gets up to sing, we are all warned that he may shatter the chandeliers and eyeglasses of the audience,” said Diana Arlt, who hosts the Talent Showcase shows.”The audience just loves the ‘big singer’ as he has been called. I call him the singing plumber who has a tremendous set of pipes. He has tremendous talent.”
Watch Larry in action here:
And then there’s baseball.
Rivellese has been playing softball in The Villages Recreational Leagues for over a decade. The outfielder currently plays for the Division III NY Giants and is hitting .368.
“I’m just an average ballplayer,” Rivellese said, adding that he started playing in Little League and never stopped.. “But if I could play baseball, like I sing opera, I’d be a softball star.”
Softball and opera do have something in common.
“Both are very physical and demanding,” Rivellese said. “You have to work hard and practice to get better.”
He may not meet the standard of the old New York Yankees he idolized as a kid, like Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, but Rivellese plays with intensity and hustle.
“The game is a lot of fun and there are so many outstanding players in The Villages,” he said. “Softball, — like opera — is an art.”
For Rivellese artistic accomplishment comes easier on stage rather than the diamond.
“It’s a lot easier for me to belt out an aria than it is to belt a home run,” he said.
