LONDON — Last Friday, here on stage at the Royal Opera House, actor Agath Roussel wore a huge furry green coat on her head as four singers crowded around her, offering money and favors. I requested it.
Rusel was rehearsing. “last daysis a new opera in which she performs the last hours of the life of Blake, a rock star reminiscent of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the grunge band Nirvana who committed suicide in 1994.White sunglasses Cobang became famous.
When Lucel hid under the coat, a stage director with a shotgun appeared. The props remain on the stage all the time during the opera, reminiscent of the potential price of the tragedy and fame coming to the audience.
‘Last Days’, which premieres on Friday, is one of the UK’s most anticipated new operas this autumn, with four days long sold out. This is also one of his more unusual, based on Gus Van Sant’s mostly wordless and plotless 2005 film The Last Days. Housemate, manager, Yellow his page salesman, and his two members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
With a libretto written by artist Matt Copson and experimental composer Oliver Reese, both first-time opera producers, Roussel mostly mutters rather than sings in the show. Her tweet is translated for the audience using a super title.
The choice of a grunge star as the show’s central figure may surprise some opera traditionalists. Journalist Charles R. Cross, who wrote a biography of Kurt Cobain, said in a phone interview that he disliked the movie The Last Days. “It was absolutely not who Kurt Cobain was,” said Cross, adding that the opera would likely exaggerate the likeness even further.
Despite the opera’s central character being named Blake, “the only reason people see this is because of Kurt Cobain’s celebrity,” Cross said.
During a rehearsal break, Copson, who co-directs the opera with Anna Morrissey, said he thought such criticism misunderstood his show. Instead of trying to give answers about what happened, it poses questions like, “What do we, as Western cultures, want from our symbols?”
Cobain, he said, was the “archetype” of pop stars who rebelled against society and struggled to deal with the contradictions as their music and style were incorporated into mainstream culture. Referring to rappers Lil Peep, who died in 2017, and Juice WRLD, who died in 2019, Copson said, “Every few years there’s a different one.” “What are you looking for from these people?” He asked. “Do you need something to sometimes sacrifice?”
The idea to make “Last Days” also had little to do with the person Cobain, said Mr. Rees, the composer for the Royal Opera House. Leasing wanted to make his first opera. After meeting Copson, Reese recalled, the two liked to find “mystery and magic” in everyday objects. “Last Days” became a reference point for those conversations because all of Blake’s actions, no matter how mundane, seemed profound given the impending suicide. Copson said, even when he ate a bowl, it felt “strong.”
The pair pitched the idea of a potential opera that could capture the mood of the film until Reese simply suggested adapting it. It was, “said leasing. However, he and Copson immediately began to enjoy being able to play the Opera tradition. COPSON said he felt like an outsider “hijacked the organization.”
In recent rehearsals, the love of this pair was remarkable about incorporating something common. One performer played a delivery driver trying to get Blake to accept a package, repeatedly singing the line “I need your signature, please.” Roussel then poured Lucky Charms cereal into a bowl.
Most of the performance took place in a dilapidated house, in stark contrast to the grunge-influenced glamorous outfits designed by Balenciaga. I admitted that I probably didn’t like it.
Copson said only Rusel was a big fan of Nirvana among the people involved in the opera. The actor, best known for starring as a woman sexually attracted to cars in the horror film Titans, said he first heard the band’s music as a teenager growing up in France. One day, one of the popular girls at school threw a CD of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” at her and sneered at her. When she returned to her house, she immediately played it. “I fainted it,” she said.
Years later, Roussel was also obsessed with “Last Days” and immediately signed up, even though she had never performed in an opera (Last month, Copson and Reese took her Playing “Salome” in Richard Strauss, I hate her. “It’s not me,” she said).
In preparation for the role, Roussel said he watched every Nirvana documentary and interview he could find, but the opera isn’t about Cobain, it’s about “becoming a myth kills you” and “being famous is ridiculous”. and wanting to disappear when most people recognize it, even if the opera is made about Amy Winehouse or Janis Joplin, it could say the same thing. She added.
During recent rehearsals, there were many moments when Rousselle’s Blake became more than just the “archetype” of the doomed musician. Finally, Roussel took the stage alone and sat by her electric guitar, she turned on her amp and began strumming the distorted chords of her grunge track. It is the only thing that such music is heard in opera.
“I don’t want to see the sunset,” she sang sadly. “I’ve never loved life so much.” As she sings to herself, soprano Patricia Auchterloni plays Blake’s big fan, stalking the stage in an outfit that looks just like hers, and sings the same in soaring Italian. I sang the words.
When their voice and the music style were mixed, the auditorium cast and crew were quiet and quiet.