Jack Torrance At The Minnesota Opera



"SING FOR ME!" The Phantom exhorted poor Christine in Phantom of the Opera.  With so much music coming from the work of Mr. King, I can almost hear the musicians crying, "Sing for me, Stevie, Sing!"

Kristin Tillotson at at Star Tribune has an article headlined, "Stephen King's 'The Shining' heads to Minnesota Opera."  

Right now it seems to be just the right time, as Stephen King is hot stuff with the popular Under The Dome on CBS and a sequel to The Shining coming out very soon.

Tilloston writes:
With King’s blessing, an opera version of “The Shining,” the 1977 work widely considered one of the top horror novels of all time, will premiere at Ordway Center in May 2016. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell are collaborating on the project. Campbell also wrote the books for the opera’s 2011 premiere of “Silent Night” and its upcoming “The Manchurian Candidate.”
As opera companies around the world seek contemporary works that bring with them added relevance to modern audiences, the commission of such a popular story by one of the world’s bestselling authors is a coup for Minnesota Opera.
Eric Simonson, who will direct, first floated the idea of adapting “The Shining” to artistic director Dale Johnson during a brainstorming session four years ago.
startribune.com

This reminds me of a wonderful exchange between Andy Williamson and myself about The Shining as a Musical.  Andy is the author of Brooding (which I am presently reading -- and enjoying very much.)

This is from April 1, 2012 -- but just as fun as ever!



With the Carrie musical about to drop out of sight, again, Andy Williamson, author of Brooding, spent some time wondering what a musical version of The Shining might look like.

Check it out at Williamson's sight, The Wordslinger (that there be a mighty fine web name, Mr. Williamson!

His idea was birthed from a discussion we had at a talkstephenking blog post titled, "Musical Confusion," which you can read HERE.

Williamson offers us some of these gems:

SHINING! – a musical in 3 acts

based on the novel by Stephen King
written and directed by Andy Williamson (HA!)

That's great, Andy.  You direct it, and I will be first in line to watch.  Williamson assures us he is only kidding. . . or is he?  HUH!  IS HE?  He writes, "given the over the top, operatic themes of this story, this might could actually work."  YIKES!  I'm intrigued. 

He offers some production ideas, such as (my favorites),
  • O Danny Boy
  • Come and play with us, Danny.  (HOLY SMOKE, BATMAN!  I be freaked out by this one.)
  • You Gotta Watch Her, She Creeps (Boiler Song)
  • Gimme the Bat, Wendy (The Bash Your Brains In Song)
Of course, Andy has these all in the correct order.  I can just hear it!  Unfortunately, all these songs run through my head with the tune of "What's the buzz, what's everyone talkin' about?" from Jesus Christ Superstar.  Well, except O Danny Boy.

The full article is HERE.  There is even a nifty graphic that I am resisting the urge to steal!

4 comments:

  1. What's with all the King-based operas all of a sudden? I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm okay with it, provided I get to actually see/hear the thing at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was wondering the same thing, Bryant.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HA! I first read about this a few days ago, and immediately recalled the exchange we had from a year and a half ago about a musical version of The Shining. Seems like you remembered it, too, David. Thanks for the write up. And the plug. Glad you're enjoying the book.

    ReplyDelete