TheStar.com: "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
Actually, It was a whole chorus of middle-aged male reviewers who did the dirty deed, but when they had finished with David Cronenberg and Howard Shore's opera of The Fly, which opened in Los Angeles last Sunday night, they had not only swallowed it, but regurgitated it onto the pages of the continent's papers as well."
2 comments:
It's one thing to try and conquer theater and fail but entirely another beast to tackle with opera. The really had a set of balls on them to move into opera and hope for the best. Yes, I'm sorry they got attack from around the world for their art, but can you blame the critics? Don't these artist know everything goes on Broadway, but the same does not go for opera?
The critical dismissal almost makes me want to see The Fly more, if only to see more precisely how it fails. This article criticizes more the people who came together to create the show - the composer, director - and states they're neither theater nor opera people. While a large portion of the awkwardness of the production may come from that, someone, somewhere thought something in it was a good idea. Horror as a genre has a lasting quality that is often overlooked; while Dracula is pretty much a fixture of contemporary mythos, horror is rarely called upon in the world of theater. I wonder if an opera based on The Fly would still be doomed to fail if conceived by more traditionally trained people?
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