The best part about contemporary opera is that it incorporates relatively modern events into the plot lines. Relatively modern, as several experimental individuals are looking to prove, includes notorious '90s pop icons Milli Vanilli. Did you say "wow"? What a funny coincidence. WOW is also the title of the opera.
The project is the brainchild of composer Jon Diebes, poet Christian Hawkey and theater director David Levine. Levine looks at the story of Vanilli-who rose to fame with hits such as "Girl You Know It's True," before being revealed as lip-syncers and falling from grace with the listening public-as a great example of operatic tragedy.
"These two guys wanted to be famous, they sell their voices to the devil for fame and fortune, they get fame and fortune, and, when they demand their voices back, they are destroyed," he said, putting a Faustian/Robert Johnson-esque spin on it. "Everyone knows what happened to these guys...One of them dies of an overdose a couple of years after the scandal hits, so for me it was a classically operatic kind of arc...And it's a sad one and a real one."
Actors portraying the fallen star protagonists won't be performing Vanilli hits however: The production will use Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg instead (somewhat odd, considering it's Wagner's only opera labelled as a comedy). The production gets even more experimental as the musicians will be given their parts in real-time, resulting in a unique (and probably quirky) experience for each performance.
The opera is scheduled to open on January 23 at the BRIC House in Brooklyn. One thing to consider before you go: No official length of performance was given, however the traditional version of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is one of the longest operas commonly performed, often topping 4.5 hours.
