Word: opera
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Directed by visiting artist Diane Paulus of the Project 400 Theater Group, a New York-based theater company whose stated mission is to redefine what people think theater is, King Kong is a show that is as challenging as it is engaging. Loosely based on Richard Wagner's 1848 opera Lohengrin, which in turn was based on a German version of an Arthurian legend, Paulus's multimedia production tells the story of the virtuous knight Lohengrin and his efforts to save and marry Elsa, a princess unjustly accused of murder...
...Anyone who tells you that they watch opera for the plot is lying. The attraction of opera is in the experience of beautiful music, elaborate costumes and massive sets. The actual content of the opera is secondary at best. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of King Kong is that it is able to take this emphasis on theatrical experience over storyline--the essence of opera--and make it relevant to audiences today. (The type that wouldn't enjoy Wagner's original score, at least...
...Though it would seem to have little in common with bellowing Italian tenors and symphony orchestras, King Kong is, at heart, an opera. A hip-hop opera. An opera for modern audiences. Or should I say postmodern audiences...
...Because they are so focused on creating a full experience, all operas must represent some sort of aesthetic principle--the playfulness and humor of the early Mozart, the heaviness of Wagner. More than with a play or musical, all the elements of a well-done--opera music, costumes, lights, scenery--should resonate with a single effect. The aesthetic of King Kong is one of decontextualization and deconstruction, of presenting the familiar as unfamiliar...
...Tintin's fundamental ambiguity extends all the way to his sexual orientation. He never appears to have any close female friends (with the revealing exception of Madame Castafiore, a campy opera diva whose path he crosses several times). And to complicate matters further, he's constantly having quasi homoerotic relationships with young boys whom he befriends in foreign countries. Tintin's physical appearance is itself gender-ambiguous. What are we to make of his distinctive cow lick, which is neither particularly masculine or feminine...