Some days, like today, I think I'll give my blog a rest and give my full attention to work (write that sidebar about scalping, say).But almost always the blog itself casts its nets upon the waters and hauls in some must-post material.
Today it hauled in two shiny tuna e-mails.
Art Sparker sent me the link to the 1:40 min. opera version of Star Trek II: Le Wrath di Khan.
Since I'd last seen it and now, my sister (a non-Trekkie) has fallen deeply into opera, so I forwarded it to her.
Just now, Sister wrote back pointing out how much Khan in the opera looks like Dmitri Hvorostovsky--"a sexy Russian baritone."
Perhaps the Robot Chicken crew who made Le Wrath did this on purpose? Or did Ricardo Montalban?
TOP LEFT: Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna sings, Per me ora fatale / "Fatal hour of my life"...
From the Royal Opera House's 2002 production of Giuseppe Verdi's tragic opera Il trovatore.
Being a nerd (and feeling about the diminuitive Seth Green similarly to the way you feel about William Shatner) I watched the director's commentary for this. Apparently the verses were translated from English to Italian by putting them through n online translation engine, which makes it even more amusing.I thought the guy singing Willima Shatner's part was quite Kirkesque in his delivery.
ReplyDeleteOh! I LOVE that info: thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have myself made use of the magic garble of the online translator.
(English into Japanese and back into English is a nice sequence).
I have to notice---Kirk is standing one knee-up, arms on hips.
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder---who sang this?! (And how much were they paid?) I'm trying to envision this in a recording studio, and having trouble.
I have to laugh---"I am dead!"
Oh, how I love this. They, (whoever they are), should convert some of Kirk's notable log's into Opera. Ah heck, ENTIRE EPISODES IN OPERA. Goodness, I would die.
M: Robot Chicken stuff is made by Seth Green et al, but I don't know anything about it.
ReplyDeleteYou know there's some new ballet version of Shatner/Kirk...
"Gonzo Ballet"?
I know nothing about it either!
There is an opera version of Amok Time. I've seen a bit of it on Youtube, but both the visual and the sound quality were so bad, I couldn't watch more than some ten seconds of it. The libretto was simply the lines from the episode, the music was modern/minimalist, and the singers were dressed in black and placed in front of/under a screen that showed the episode. I've never been able to get my head around opera, but that's a show I'd love to see if the possibility presented itself.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds amazing, Annika!
ReplyDeleteFrecsa:
William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, (these words, they taste strange in my mouth):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q1X8oKvltY
Apparently, there is a feature length documentary on the making of it, including interviews with the Man himself.
Another film to see when, leading a band of torch-bearing cine-zealots, you commandeer the local micro-theater!