Fame or Famine

It’s kind of funny that while your average American male would rather eat cod liver oil than go to an opera, the same guy will stand in line for an hour to see a new Jackie Chan movie. Yet the fact is, Jackie Chan’s roots go to the Chinese Opera, which has a vast and rich tradition dating from around 755 A.D.
That’s right. The same opera that today uses the most modern lights and sound techniques goes back well over a millenium in its history. And, as stars like Jackie have shown, they have kept the appeal – I would …read more

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I swear, I couldn’t make this stuff up.
In the category of “stage to screen” I could probably somewhat justify Al Gore’s famous slideshow, An Inconvenient Truth. After all, it went on to become not just a book but also a Nobel-Peace-Prize winning movie. Well, ok, Mr. Gore got the prize, but it wasn’t for his work as V.P.
Turning It Up to Eleven
Now, however, it’s going the other way, as Giorgio Battistelli of Milan’s La Scala opera house is going to undertake to turn it into an opera, set to debut in 2011. Yes, that’s right, an opera about global warming.
Battistelli …read more

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CHICAGO OPERA THEATER, HARRIS THEATER FOR MUSIC AND DANCE, MILLENNIUM PARK, AND MILLENNIUM PARK, INC. TO PRESENT FIRST-EVER FREE LIVE SIMULCAST PRESENTATION OF AN OPERA IN CHICAGO HISTORY, FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2008
That’s right – Millenium Park, really, is worth visiting even when the Chicago Opera Theater is not there; the architecture, the Bean, the video art sculpture, it’s a real example of public art done right.
But this is even more of an example of public arts done right – two 20,000 lumen projectors will be doing a “live simulcast” to a projected crowd of 11,000 eager opera fans (and opera-fans-in-waiting). …read more

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