EDINBURGH 2023: Review: A COMEDY OF OPERAS, Pleasance At EICC

As someone who worked in an opera house in New York and volunteers with an opera house in London, I have had quite a bit of experience with the genre and several different shows. I decided to go to see A Comedy of Operas to see how they were able to combine opera, rock, and pop into a fun love story. 

When the show began, I was starting to get into it. The costumes and makeup are fun and do a fantastic job of blending opera and rock, with the performers looking like people who were going to a KISS concert after attending a fancy gala. I was in awe of the talented performers and how expressive they were through their physicality and song. Unfortunately, once we started getting into the show, I found myself disappointed in the show.

A Comedy of Operas has no dialogue, excluding moments in which some characters said a few words in French, Italian, or straight gibberish, the latter of which grew annoying very quickly. The plot follows two love stories, one of an older alcoholic man and a young soprano and another of a flamboyant man and a masculine man. I thought that the queer love story was sweet and well done, but the other relationship story fell flat. 

Another disappointing thing about the show was that even though it promised to merge opera, rock, and pop, only a few pop songs were thrown in, and maybe one or two rock songs. One of the male singers tries expressing himself through rock and roll and is the one to sing the most bits from modern songs. I enjoyed how famous operatic arias were transformed into pop songs, but this was only done in one song, leaving the rest to be mostly arias with one of two pop songs. One of the female singers also sang a love song directly into an audience member’s face, which was a bit strange. 

One of the aspects of A Comedy of Operas that I liked the least was its suicidal jokes. There is an entire bit in which the alcoholic character is singing “My Way” as he prepares to kill himself in a range of ways. It wasn’t just a character “operatically” considering taking their own life as stated in the show’s description. It was a man with suicidal tendencies attempting to kill himself. Another joke (if it can even be called that) involves one of the characters miming slitting his wrist and blood spraying out, which made me incredibly uncomfortable, especially as it was not needed. Suicide jokes can be used for comedy, but they have to be earned through a character’s journey or through connecting with the audience. 

Ultimately, while I wanted to love A Comedy of Operas, it failed to appeal to me. The cast members are incredibly talented and have gorgeous voices, but the show itself had a very confusing tone and left me wondering exactly what the point of it was.

With just a little bit more cohesion, the removal of some bits of miming suicide, and a choice to either lean into or remove the pop songs, A Comedy of Operas could become a great show. 

A Comedy of Operas runs at Pleasance at EICC, the Pentland Theatre at a range of times (14:30, 16:00, 17:30, or 18:00)  from 2 to 27 August. 

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