Bots 4 Tots: "“Death and the Powers” is the first Robotic Opera ever produced, and is currently in development as a collaborative project by the MIT Media Lab and the American Repertory Theater. It is scheduled to open Fall of next year (2010), premiering internationally at locations including the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) in Massachusetts as well as the Chicago Opera Theater. Read on! You really want to hear the rest of this, it’s good!
What do Yo-Yo Ma, Prince and Guitar Hero have in common? Tod Machover, that’s what!"
4 comments:
When Carnegie Mellon preached about collaborating with technology and other disciplines, I wonder if they thought about it going as far as replacing the actors themselves. It's the muppets of the 21st Century.
This is awesome! I am a big believer in combining theater and technology and this is the ultimate expression of that idea. The fact that the robots seem to rule the show is an interesting idea. It reminds me of the Pixar Movie WALL-E, where the main character is a robot that never speaks, and required no actor for the whole hour forty minutes. I can't wait to see how far people will push this idea though, and how this robot rock opera turns out. Looks like an intersting collaboration between many different mediums.
Why do I get the distinct feeling Disney will adapt this concept for their parks? I mean, they already have lots of rather similar attractions so why not "Wall-E: The Opera?" It's a rather intriguing venture for expanding the media of the arts, especially the opera. However, it's credibility is still question, despite the participation of artists like Yo-Yo Ma. It may be entertaining, but is it art and can it truly compare to the opera we know? Sure, we need to create modern operas, but really? I guess the uprising of robots over humans has officially begun. And you all thought it would be zombies.
My first thought was: How are we going to compare the quality of something like this to the rest of the genre? I have come to the conclusion that we probably won't. It's a new genre so it doesn't have a precedent. It is going to be interesting to see how this is seen by the performing arts community. I am really interested in the concept and execution and hope that it is tremendous but we'll see.
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