The Fly The Opera?

Who would have thought The Fly would become an Opera?

An operatic remake of the 1986 remake of the 1958 Vincent Price original (based on a 1956 short story – Phew!) that teaches us becoming a fly-man isn’t as cool at it sounds.

Sharing his new transporting invention with a fly causes Jeff Goldblum’s scientist and the insect to bond or as Jeff puts it: “It mated us, me and the fly. We hadn't even been properly introduced.”

Being joined with a fly in a science experiment, you’d hope to go down the Spiderman route but poor Jeff has bits fall off him as he slowly turns into a 185 pound fly via Michael Jackson.

Cronenburg was the king of cinematic goo at the time but The Fly became so much more than the likes of surreal nasty Videodrome because of its truly tragic nature of, er… operatic proportions, turning it from B Movie into a B+ (see what I did there?).

How similar it will be to the film will remain unknown to the likes of me as it’s only playing in Los Angeles but I doubt anyone can match Jeff Goldblum’s career defining performance (Damn you academy awards!). The film’s composer Howard Shore has also written the opera’s music which is surely a good sign.

My only hope is that this stage production includes the musical numbers: “Be afraid, Be very afraid” and - if there is any justice - “Is that his penis in a jar?”

Howard Shore’s The Fly will play for 6 nights in September 08. Check it out yourself at the link below and tell us what ‘80s’ classics you want to see become operas in the comments. My choice is Ghostbusters.

http://www.laopera.com/productions/0809/thefly/index.htm