"Hiphopera?" Gimme a Break!

[Ralph]

Rapping out Mozart as Glyndebourne stages hiphopera

Martin Wainwright
Monday August 15, 2005

Guardian
The home of Britain's classiest opera parties is about to strike out in a new direction by staging "hiphopera", complete with f-words and rap music, in the country house setting of Glyndebourne.

It will be too cold for champagne picnics and there will be no need to wear a black tie, but the new version of Cosi Fan Tutte in March will see Mozart switched from 18th century Naples to the car park of an inner-city London council estate.

The production will turn Guglielmo and Ferrando into two roadies getting ready for a national rap tour, with Don Alfonso as the gigs' unscrupulous promoter. Both music and libretto have been transformed to fit, with a rap version of Soave sia il vento (May the wind be gentle) and argot such as "gimme five" and "wicked" instead of the original Italian.

The transformed version of Mozart's masterpiece is part of an increasingly successful attempt to draw new, and particularly young, audiences to the venue, which has a largely unfair but deep-rooted image of exclusivity and expense. Katie Teale, head of Glyndebourne's education department, which is running the show separately from the main season, said: "Mozart was young himself and Cosi's themes, about two young men testing their lovers' fidelity, are constant. The opera is very much about young people and things which matter to them as they find their way in the world."

The co-production with German and Finnish companies hopes to add to accessibility with ticket prices as low as £5 for three public performances

The opera, provisionally entitled School4Lovers, will go on tour to Finland, Germany and the Baltic States.

Glyndebourne is recruiting young singers next month for a road crew who will play the part of the chorus in the original opera.

Meanwhile, young audiences are also being targeted this autumn by a new touring opera, Tangier Tattoo, which starts with two drug-dealers being gunned down outside a Moroccan cafe.

The hero is an English gap year backpacker and other characters include a tattooist who fits nipple rings. The company, which had a record attendance of 55,000 last year, has set a top price of £25 for tickets in the hope of "attracting and sustaining a new audience for our art form".

[Harvested Sorrow]

That is terrible. Absolutely f*cking terrible (NOTE: They should really improve the filter, it's a bit lopsided...this is the one and only time I'm gonna edit myself out for the sake of being cuorteous.) However, it may end up converting a few...however, that will be over time, and will be more of a subliminal effect than a direct one. For example, the general train of thought (in the more intelligent members of the audience, of course ) may be something like "Well....I loved that one particular part with the violins, but man, that excrement is boring by itself!" which upon further thought may eventually lead to "...Well, I'll check it out."

Honestly, though....perhaps I shouldn't be the one saying it, as I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but they should be able to find a better way than THAT to get young people into opera.