Oh the tenor and the cowhand should be friends
According to Rush & Molloy in the Daily News, Annie Proulx has given the go-ahead to an opera based on her story “Brokeback Mountain.” Charles Wuorinen will compose.
UPDATE: Now PlaybillArts is confirming the rumor, complete with quotes from Howard Stokar, Charles Wuorinen‘s agent.
La Cieca would boast that she called it, but alas that was the same posting that provoked Met insider NOT_GAY (well, that narrows it down) to complain that “this flaming, gay personality comes out and everything worthwhile that you wrote loses its meaning.” So now it looks like we were both right!
Maury: LOL on the top-bottom thing. I agree that operatic expression seems completely at odds with the low-key, less-is-more tone of Brokeback. The idea of Ennis singing anything beyond a 5-note range seems just wrong. But who knows, perhaps taking a completely different approach will somehow work. Wuorinen’s a very highly regarded composer…
Operacowboy: I live in Toronto and am so excited about Don Carlos and now you’ve got me excited about Scott Hendricks, whom I hadn’t heard of before.
Rysanekfreak: you actually made me guffaw about Don Carlo. I think that noise I just made would be described as a guffaw.
During the first sex scene, there can be a chorus of sheep. baaaaaa, Baaaaa, BAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
jatm2063: The chorus.
And lest we’ve all forgotten, The Entertainment Beat with Frances Gumm put on their version way back in February 2006, in episode 10 (4 minutes in), in its inimitable style that Wuorinen just won’t be able to hold a candle to…
They get around the problem that Maury d’A. so perceptively points out — that of the theme of the impossibilty of expression that’s at the root of the story — by having Judy Garland sing the unspoken desires of the characters. Dr. Wuorinen, take note!
The late, great Pauline Kael once had an essay that started off thinking about outrageously ridiculous combinations of dueling talents, ending up with Paddy Chayevsky and Ken Russell, who actually did collaborate, sorta, with the movie “Altered States.” I’m afraid Wuorinen and Annie Proux’s “Brokeback Mountain” are a new sweepstakes answer in the weird collaboration sweepstakes. In fact, I can’t think of talents more dissonant. What a profoundly bad idea.
I can’t wait to read about how people show up to this expecting some orchestral Americana ala Aaron Copland and they flee after 20 minutes of Mr. Wuorinen’s totally-not-about-the-tunes music (which I enjoy a lot, BTW).
In a way, it makes more sense as a ballet.
I will simply die if Simon Keenlyside is not cast as Ennis. Then after the premiere run, Teddy Tahu can take over…
Caro Cieca:
God bless you for bringing a huge laugh into my day!