The Playgoer: Sarah Palin: The Opera

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Sarah Palin: The Opera

Speaking of whacky musicals...

“Say It Ain’t So, Joe,” a presentation by Guerilla Opera, opens Saturday at Boston Conservatory’s Zack Box Theater. The work is composer Curtis Hughes’ musical take on America’s favorite moose-hunting winker, you betcha. It focuses on that contentious - and sometimes comical - debate from October 2008 between Palin and Joe Biden, though the show also includes cameos from Hillary Clinton, Gwen Ifill, Diane Sawyer and, of course, the right-wing’s favorite Everyman, Joe the Plumber.

[...]

Hughes describes “Say It Ain’t So, Joe” as a light tragedy. “It is a tragedy about Palin,” he said. “Both characters view themselves as saviors of America. And even though I’m not trying to hammer people on the head with a single interpretation, you know that Biden will triumph in the end. But the central figure certainly is Sarah Palin. I found myself having this odd pathos for her, a pathos I would not have felt if I were not writing music for her.”
Not to be confused with Albert Gonzales: The Opera.


Gotta say this about the Bush years: it's given artists lots of frighteningly hilarious "found text."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a review of the Sarah Palin opera.

http://classical-scene.com/2009/09/21/run-to-see-%E2%80%9Csay-it-ain%E2%80%99t-so-joe%E2%80%9D/

AliOx said...

Here is an NPR story on the 2008 VP opera. It’s really interesting what the composer did.

http://www.wbur.org/2009/09/25/guerilla-opera

Anonymous said...

Another opera is needed. To align with the classic opera canon, the libretto really should be about the Bristol / Levi / Sarah / Todd melodrama.

--Bristol, soprano (nutso). Mad scene, etc.

--Sarah, dramatic soprano (bitch). Lots of scenery-chewing arias.

--Levi, tenor (goofball)

--Todd, baritone (dumbass)

--Together with ensembles, with Trig and Trak and Tripp and Trog, etc. It's a natural.

Doria said...

You can pre-order a digital download or CD recording of the Sarah Palin opera "Say It Aint So, Joe" here: http://kck.st/erVAW0

There is also a great video montage of clips taken from the live performances of 2009!