"STEW" thread on ATC today. Interesting!?

[thetinymagic2]

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/allthatchat/d.php?id=1710126q

STEW
Stew
© Carol Rosegg 2008

STEW (Passing Strange)

ON: What are some of your favorite operas and opera composers?

S: Tristan und Isolde, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Parsifal. It mustseem horribly dumb, pretentious or both that an opera know-nothing like me would be a Wagner freak. I was sucked in by the drama surrounding the man, I must admit, but I stayed for the music. At first, I tried not to let his life get in the way of my experience of his music. Fat chance. Like Mingus's work, Wagner's biography is in every bar. The trombones won't let you forget. His music is dangerous, political, radical. And if you listen to it while you sleep, as I did quite often last year in Berlin, you will have wonderfully troubling dreams and beautiful nightmares.

ON: What's the main difference between musicals and opera?

S: The ticket price? The jewelry? I think it's confidence — musicals lack the confidence that operas have in music's ability to get the job done alone and tell the story.

ON: Would you ever write an opera?

S: Certainly. Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk schtick has always been an attractive idea to me. I'd love to create a full-on aural/visual happening someday. It's quite exciting, just thinking about it! I should start tonight.

ON: If you were to write an opera, what might be the subject matter?

S: I don't want to give away any of my brilliant ideas, but it would not be about love or some noble historical figure. I'd lean towards writing about a very small human subject, with the goal being to show how expansive such a small thing can be — an opera about a rock-and-roller who wins a Tony, for instance.

MICHAEL PORTANTIERE is Editor in Chief of TimesSquare.com, as well as a regular columnist for BroadwayStars.com and a frequent contributor to AfterElton.com.

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[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

oh snap! wish i could have listened!