The film composer Howard Shore has written an opera. It is an adaptation of one of the movies he did the music for. However, it’s probably not the one you’d expect/hope. Here’s a list of operatic movies Howard Shore has scored, that are NOT the movie in question: The Lords of the Rings, The Departed, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, The Aviator, and The Gangs of New York.

Instead, Howard Shore looked back upon his body of work, and decided The Fly really needed to be an opera. And there’s a photo after the jump. more »

I’m a little late to the party on this, and I’m reticent to go too political in this blog, but this piece of overthinking is too good and right up our alley to go unremarked.

By the way, this isn’t the last time I’ll discuss LisaNova, who I think is a very interesting cultural figure about which you can say quite a bit. But without further ado:

The amazing original clip and a bit more analysis after the jump . . .

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Since you are no doubt eagerly awaiting news of your favorite ex-Broadway show, the NYT has done a post-mortem on Glory Days (obligatory joke: “Don’t you mean… Glory Day? Ha!”). From the article:

But neither Mr. Blaemire nor Mr. Gardiner [the show's barely-legal writing team] seems to be rattled; both said they were not nearly as upset about the whole experience as their mothers were. They are, in fact, working on their next show.

“If you look at it from the outside, these guys were in a fast situation, moved a show that wasn’t ready, it flopped and they’re a failure; I could see how you would think that would not be worth anyone’s time,” Mr. Blaemire said. “But from our perspective, we got a chance to learn everything about what it takes to put on a Broadway show.”

Oh good. Our protagonists have learned to wipe Mom’s tears and stoically get back on the bike. Cheesy enough to be the plot of a Broadway flop.

I’m being snotty (duh, it’s teh inturwebz), and of course I would probably give several toes for the opportunity to have even a failure with that high a showbiz profile. Actually, as I read it, the article lays most of the blame on a producing team who pushed the show too far too fast (or just too far) rather than on the writers, who come off sympathetic,

Fleeting Stage Glory, Savored and Survived [NYT]

[A little arts meta-coverage from OTI Magazine this morning. Enjoy! —Ed.]

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I’m the sort of nerd that doesn’t play videogames, but since college one of my favorite entertainment activities has been watching people with far greater skills play Grand Theft Auto. And unless you’ve been spending eighteen hours a day in a dark, windowless room (a situation not uncommon in my other line of work, theater acting), you notice that GTA IV is out. It is far, far better written, acted, and produced than most plays I’ve seen. Or heard about. Or been involved in.

So what does the preeminent art form of the twenty-first century have to say about the preeminent art form of the negative tenth through nineteenth? more »

[I'll get back to wrapping up my "No Crying In Baseball" series next week, but for a bit, I want to start a new series -- books I fantasize about writing someday. I'll probably come back to this intermittently. It's a blog series I've always wanted to write. –Fenzel]

So, my boy Bill Bryson wrote a new book about some old subject matter: Shakespeare: The World As Stage, part of the Harper Collins Eminent Lives series. Harper Collins describes the series as “Brief biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures.” I recommend the series for pleasure reading (it’s a soft recommendation), but that’s not what this post is about.

I like Bill Bryson a ton — mostly for his writing style guide: Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words: A Writer’s Guide to Getting It Right, which is the most fun you will ever have reading an index of words that isn’t by Ambrose Bierce. He’s got a witty, comfortable, conversational style, and he doesn’t bullshit you. That, of course, makes it difficult for him to write a biography of Shakespeare, because, as Bryson goes into very early in the book, most biographies of Shakespeare are bullshit. more »