The Fly is an opera in two acts by Canadian composer Howard Shore, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang. It was commissioned by the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France, where it premiered on 2 July 2008, and by Edgar Baitzel, then director of the Los Angeles Opera, where the opera was first performed on 7 September 2008. The work was broadcast by Radio France's station France Musique on 2 August 2008.[1]
The opera is loosely based on David Cronenberg's 1986 film The Fly, which was based on the short story of the same name by George Langelaan. Shore also wrote the musically unrelated score of that film.[2]
Roles[]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast,[3][4] 2 July 2008 Conductor: Plácido Domingo |
|---|---|---|
| Seth Brundle (The Fly), scientist | bass-baritone | Daniel Okulitch |
| Veronica Quaife, journalist | mezzo-soprano | Ruxandra Donose |
| Stathis Borans, editor | tenor | David Curry in Paris[5] Gary Lehman in Los Angeles[6] |
| Officer/Medical Analyst/Cheevers | mezzo-soprano | Beth Clayton |
| Marky | tenor | Jay Hunter Morris |
| Scientist #1 | mezzo-soprano | Sophie van de Woestyne in Paris Silvia Vasquez in Los Angeles |
| Scientist #2 | baritone | Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin in Paris Nicholas Hartley in Los Angeles |
| Scientist #3 | mezzo-soprano | Louise Callinan in Paris Anna Jablonski in Los Angeles |
| Scientist #4 | baritone | Frederic Goncalves in Paris Matthew Moore in Los Angeles |
| Scientist #5 | baritone | Luc Lalonde in Paris Andrew Wilkowske in Los Angeles |
| Director | David Cronenberg | |
| Set designer | Dante Ferretti | |
| Costume designer | Denise Cronenberg | |
| Lighting designer | A.J. Weissbard | |
| Associate conductor/Chorus master | Grant Gershon | |
| Makeup and creature design | Stephan L. Dupuis | |
| Makeup, creature and puppet fabrication | Mark A. Rappaport's Creature Effects, Inc. | |
The opera runs approximately two hours.
References[]
- ↑ Héro, Florian (30 June 2008). "Histoire d'une oeuvre: Howard Shore: The Fly" . Radio France. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
{{cite web}}: [dead link] - ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (8 September 2008). "The Song of the Brundlefly". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/arts/music/09fly.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 8 September 2008.
- ↑ "Howard Shore: The Fly – The Opera: The Creative Team". Los Angeles Opera. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-06-02. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "Howard Shore: The Fly – The Opera: The Cast". Los Angeles Opera. 2008. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ Riding, Alan (5 July 2008). "Trying to Teach 'The Fly' to Soar Operatically". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
{{cite web}}: - ↑ "LA Opera – The Fly (playbill)". Los Angeles Opera. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2008.
{{cite web}}:
External links[]
- "Howard Shore: The Fly The Opera (homepage)". Los Angeles Opera. 2008. Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
{{cite web}}: - "Théâtre du Châtelet: The Fly" . Théâtre du Châtelet. 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
{{cite web}}: - Davies, Lizzy (3 July 2008). "The Fly lands on Paris stage as a Cronenberg opera". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
{{cite web}}: (a review)
| The Fly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Original series | The Fly (1958) • Return of the Fly (1959) •Curse of the Fly (1965) | |
| Remake series | The Fly (1986) • The Fly II (1989) | |
| Characters | Seth Brundle • Veronica Quaife • Stathis Borans • Martin Brundle • Anton Bartok | |
| Other | Bartok Industries • Telepods • Opera • Short story • George Langelaan | |
| Works by David Henry Hwang | |
|---|---|
| Full-length plays | FOB (1980) • Family Devotions (1981) • Rich Relations (1986) • M. Butterfly (1988) • Face Value (1993) • Golden Child (1996) • Peer Gynt (1998) • Tibet Through the Red Box (2004) • Yellow Face (2007) • Chinglish (2011) • Kung Fu (2014) |
| Short plays | The Dance and the Railroad (1981) • The House of Sleeping Beauties (1983) • The Sound of a Voice (1983) • As the Crow Flies (1986)
• Bondage (1992) • Trying to Find Chinatown (1996) • Bang Kok (1996) • Merchandising (1999) • Jade Flowerpots and Bound Feet (2001) • The Great Helmsman (2007) • A Very DNA Reunion (2010) • Cain and Abel (2014) |
| Film/television | Blind Alleys (1985) • M. Butterfly (1993) • Golden Gate (1994) • The Lost Empire/The Monkey King (2001) • Possession (2002) • The Affair (2016) |
| Music theatre | 1000 Airplanes on the Roof (1988) • The Voyage (1992) • The Silver River (1997) • Aida (2000) • Flower Drum Song (2001) • Ainadamar (2003) • The Sound of a Voice (2003) • Tarzan (2006) • Alice in Wonderland (2007) • The Fly (2008) • Dream of the Red Chamber (2016) • An American Soldier (2018) • Soft Power (2018) |