Others are already sketching and plotting for the Petraeus movie, perhaps as crafted by Oliver Stone. But I'm thinkin' opera. I'll bet Thomas Adès' agent is already on line with him, trying to make sure he'll go, as they say, all in (nudge). I' had been hoping for Juan Diego Flórez and Natalie Dessay but that's only an easy indulgence of my own personal taste.
As the day goes on, one's thinking evolves. I'm realizing that the real story is not the general who, until just last week, seemed secure behind the most successful public relations firewall since Douglas MacArthur. No: the real center is turning to be the doyenne of Tampa Bay society, "Inbox Zero" as Farhad Manjoo has dubbed her, the lady who told the police to get the kids offa her lawn because she is, after all, the Honorary Consul. It's see who seems to stand at the center of the great and seemingly ever-expanding web. By the time we get through all this, the general may be no more important to the story than the poor doofus from the barracks guard is is important to Carmen.
So I'm thinking coloratura and I'm thinking Adès' coloratura; I'm thinkin' Audrey Luna. You may not be able to understand a word she is saying but she can strip the varnish off an antique dining table, which is to say, powerful and insistent enough to draw everybody else into her web. Sharpen your quill pen, Thomas, you're on.
As the day goes on, one's thinking evolves. I'm realizing that the real story is not the general who, until just last week, seemed secure behind the most successful public relations firewall since Douglas MacArthur. No: the real center is turning to be the doyenne of Tampa Bay society, "Inbox Zero" as Farhad Manjoo has dubbed her, the lady who told the police to get the kids offa her lawn because she is, after all, the Honorary Consul. It's see who seems to stand at the center of the great and seemingly ever-expanding web. By the time we get through all this, the general may be no more important to the story than the poor doofus from the barracks guard is is important to Carmen.
So I'm thinking coloratura and I'm thinking Adès' coloratura; I'm thinkin' Audrey Luna. You may not be able to understand a word she is saying but she can strip the varnish off an antique dining table, which is to say, powerful and insistent enough to draw everybody else into her web. Sharpen your quill pen, Thomas, you're on.
3 comments:
No ... the truly great modern opera would be ... "Monica" ....
What we really have here is the multi-tasking version of the Eternal Triangle, with five characters: Gen. Penetraeus, Sgt. Broadbeam, Mrs. Killa, Gen. All-in and the Shirtless Wonder. Might we call it The Infernal Pentagon?
If only Cesare Siepe were still around, his experience as the greatest-ever Don Giovanni would land him the lead across from Elina Garanca as the steamy Mrs. Broadbeam.
I'd go with Linda Ronstadt as La Killa, naturally with a mike as per her glorious Bohème of the '70s, paired with Michael Bolton as All-in(with a mike of course, as per HIS glorious Bohème of the '80s). The Shirtless Wonder could be a non-singing part, maybe even a "pants role" (a la Octavian in Rosenkavalier). Pamela Anderson? Bravissima!
If you to an opera called "Petraeus," I'm opening the theater next door to produce "War and Peace—the musical!"
With hit songs like...
"Everybody here's got the hots for Natasha
The prettiest girl who ever climbed the steppes."
Not to mention the boffo theme song:
War and Peace
Will it never cease?
First there's peace
And then there's war
And after that
Some peace some more
But followed by abother war
It's war, it's war, it's war and peace!
Melodiously cranky,
The New York Crank
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