An opera based on an ’80s remake of a ’50s sci-fi classic. Conducted by Placido Domingo. Music by Howard Shore and directed by David Cronenberg, both of whom worked on 1986 classic. Currently playing in Paris and set to hit in Los Angeles in September. Well, that takes care of the what, when and who. All that leaves us is the how and the why why why? The original story is pretty melodramatic, but opera? Color me ignorant, but I didn’t realize until reading the Guardian’s review of La Mouche (if only it was an opera about La Bouche) that Broadway wasn’t the only place good movies go to be turned into dancing and prancing. Dancer In The Dark and Lost Highway were also transformed into operas, and the New York City Opera hopes to give Brokeback Mountain the same treatment in 2013. But hey, who cares about the source material if the final product is good, right? Well, it doesn’t look like La Mouche is knockin’ ‘em dead in Paris.

“Honestly, I’m not as enthusiastic as I’d expected to be. It was a little static, a little heavy. Some scenes were magnificent – others lacked rhythm,” said Marion Millet, a young opera fan.

Another, Pascal Aubry, agreed: “I liked the singing, and direction was strong; but the music was a let-down,” he said. “It was really lacking, more of a distraction than the music of an opera.”

Whatever the critics make of Cronenberg’s mutant creation, it will be a treat for those who love the film. Due to run until July 13 and have its US premiere at the Los Angeles Opera in September, it retains the famed plot line’s structure.

Sorry, but it is not inherently a treat to watch the plot of a movie you enjoy sung loudly in a concert hall.

Do not want.

The Fly lands on Paris stage as a Cronenberg opera [Guardian]
Past The Point of No Return of The Fly [YouTube]