When I was in high school, maybe my freshman or sophomore year, I read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath for fun. I loved it. It was so inspiring, in fact, that I dreamed of one day adapting the novel to a musical. I love musicals. Some of you may be thinking that was a ridiculous idea, but I was serious. I didn't want it to be a Guys and Dolls sort of musical, but more like Titanic the musical (which has nothing to do with Leo, Kate, or Celine, by the way) or Martin Guerre. I imagined songs of joy, songs of sorrow and hardship, songs of love, and songs of determined resolution. And for sure there would have to be at least one song where only two or three men sing, because I absolutely love those, like "The Blame" from Titanic or "Confrontation" from Les Miserables. It was going to be great.
Well apparently I wasn't the only one who thought The Grapes of Wrath had musical potential. It has been made into an opera, and the Minnesota Opera is currently performing its world debut in Minneapolis.
This weekend the cast was on A Prairie Home Companion and sang two of the pieces. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed. I think the style of the songs was close to musical-like, which I enjoyed, but the high shrilly opera voices sort of ruined it for me. And I'm not even trying to be anti-opera, because I just spent three days listening to The Marriage of Figaro on repeat.
In other news from Andi's musical world, two nights ago I had a dream that I was watching a student performance of 1776 the Musical, but there was a song I'd never heard sung by a stage full of females. "What?!" I asked the person I was standing next to. "I don't remember this song, and there are only supposed to be two women in the whole show." I was told they added a new song so the girls would have a more equal opportunity to perform. That made me roll my eyes and want to puke.
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3 comments:
Andi Grey,
hey.
Andre
McNeelee
Andi --
I heard PHC too, and just want to say that, while it was great to hear them on the show, it didn't nearly do the opera, or the singers, justice. When you hear the singers with full orchestration, and hear the entire three-plus hours' worth of music...well, I bet you wouldn't be disappointed. It's an incredible work. :)
Andrew: hi back! 11 days and counting!
Anonymous: I'm sure you're right. If it were performed near me I would definitely go see it, even if it's an opera and not a musical.
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