Cronenberg and Shore's Fly is Open

The opera adaptation of The Fly, last mentioned here on June 1, received its world premiere in Paris last night, ahead of its September U.S. premiere through Los Angeles Opera.  The Guardian has the most detailed English language report from the scene so far:

The illustrious Théâtre du Châtelet has witnessed an array of artistic endeavours in its time - it is where Stravinsky unveiled Pétrouchka to the world, and Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau's Parade received its world premiere.  Classical drama, light operetta, Russian ballet and even contemporary music have all played their part on its stage.

Body horror, however, has not.  Until now.  Last night an eclectic crowd of thousands gathered for a bizarre spectacle: the world premiere of David Cronenberg's operatic remake of The Fly. . . . [w]ith a score written by Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore, an orchestra conducted by tenor Plácido Domingo, and Cronenberg himself directing . . . .

A substantial photo spread accompanying the story provides the first clear views of the tenorial bass-baritonal nudity and grotesquery to which Los Angeles audiences can expect to be treated in September.  The Guardian piece is more report than review, but suggests the work was received with only modified rapture:

'Honestly, I'm not as enthusiastic as I'd expected to be.  It was a little static, a little heavy.  Some scenes were magnificent - others lacked rhythm,' said Marion Millet, a young opera fan.

Another, Pascal Aubry, agreed: 'I liked the singing, and direction was strong; but the music was a let-down,' he said. 'It was really lacking, more of a distraction than the music of an opera.'

In a similar vein, Le Monde in its July 4 edition does not rush to embrace Shore's score:

Mais Shore n'est pas Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957), qui dans sa première carrière, en Autriche, avant celle de musicien de film pour Hollywood, était fêté comme un nouveau Mozart et dont l'opéra Die Tote Stadt (1920) est encore fréquemment représenté. Shore est peut-être plus proche de Bernard Herrmann (1911- 1915), le musicien d'Hitchcock, qui ne réussira pas totalement son passage au monde du lyrique avec ses Hauts de Hurlevent (1951), un opéra post-romantique aux proportions wagnériennes.

Shore se situe à un niveau d'inspiration bien moindre. Si son écriture est loin d'être aussi imbitable que celle, pour le concert, d'Ennio Morricone, le résultat sonne comme un devoir, pâteusement orchestré, couvrant souvent les voix, d'un élève moyennement doué d'Arnold Schoenberg.

[Rough translation:

But Shore's no Korngold, who was hailed in Austria as a new Mozart and whose opera Die Tote Stadt is frequently revived.  Shore is perhaps more like Herrmann, Hitchcock's favorite, who had less than total success with his post-romantic, Wagner-scaled Wuthering Heights.

Shore is less inspired.  If he is not so inappropriate in the concert hall as Morricone, the result is still something of a chore, his orchestrated chatter [?] sometimes covering the voices in the manner of a moderately gifted student of Schoenberg.]

Zut alors!  [Rough translation: Oh, snap!]

The official site for the Los Angeles Opera production has been updated since my last post.  It now includes a selection of new photos and production designs and a scene by scene synopsis of the grisly libretto.  The synopsis reveals that the story is told largely in flashback and that the chorus -- as Ghosts in the Machine -- does as promised sing "Help me, help me!" as the tale begins.  Single performance tickets are now available.

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Illustration: "Intermezzo" by Flickr! user Selva, used under Creative Commons license.  Guardian link via Idolator.