TEATRO DON OPERATICO
Les Démocrates
Al and W: the Opera
Date: December 12, 2000 07:47 PM
Author: William Strzempek
Subject: Al & W Casting suggestions
Picking up on another thread "An Opera Waiting to Be Written," how
about casting it? Here are my suggestions:
Al Gore -- Thomas Hampson
George W -- David Daniels
Joe Lieberman -- Graham Clark
Dick Cheney -- Ekkehard Wlaschiha
Laura Bush -- Barbara Bonney
Tipper Gore -- Jennifer Larmore
James Baker -- Paul Plishka
Jeb Bush -- Gerald Finley
Kathryn Harris -- Susanne Mentzer
George Bush -- Philip Langridge
Barbara Bush -- Beverly Sills
Other characters in the opera and casting ideas happily accepted!
Date: December 12, 2000 08:06 PM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Beverly Sills!?
Bill Clinton - Jerry Hadley
Hillary Clinton - Loraine Hunt Lieberman whatever her name is)
Chelsea Clinton - Dawn Upshaw
Date: December 12, 2000 08:14 PM
Author: William Strzempek
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Beverly wouldn't have to sing much. She'd just have to wear a
white wig and pearls and hit W with her purse. I love the idea
of Dawn Upshaw in a Chelsea Clinton wig!
Date: December 12, 2000 08:54 PM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Can we cast Astrid Varnay as Barbara Bush?
Beverly might refuse due to conflicts of interest.
I know Chelsea might be a bit too young for Dawn to play but
she can pull it off.
The only member of the press I would like to see represented
would be Barbara Walters. To me she symbolizes the media.
Add: Barbara Walters - Renee Fleming
Date: December 12, 2000 09:04 PM
Author: William Strzempek
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
I think Fleming would be hilarious as Barbara Walters.
Date: December 12, 2000 09:57 PM
Author: Warmgoy
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Varnay's a great thought. She'd probably hit him harder than
Bubbles would......
Date: December 12, 2000 09:20 PM
Author: Jeff Grove
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
David Daniels as George W.?
Oh, the irony!
Date: December 12, 2000 09:26 PM
Author: William Strzempek
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
If he can handle Handel's runs, he can handle the stammering and
nonsense arias W would sing.
Date: December 13, 2000 05:34 PM
Author: zinino
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
I am not a great lover of Paul Plishka's singing, but I think it's
an insult to him as a humane, gentle, and well-intentioned artist
to cast him as that loathsome Princeton classmate of mine Baker.
Date: December 12, 2000 08:50 PM
Author: Joan Abel
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Imagine the Met chorus as the Supreme Court & Fla. legislature!
Blanche Thebom would be an ideal Katherine Harris, but
there's...well, maybe not such an age difference! Who d'ya want to
sing
Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, & Dan Rather? Then there's the CNN
gang. Have fun.
Date: December 12, 2000 08:58 PM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
How about one singer representing the press other than Barbara
Walters. Babs will get the first interview with the winner and the
loser.
Yes, let the chorus sing the entire press, like a Greek chorus.
Date: December 12, 2000 09:06 PM
Author: William Strzempek
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
We might want to cast the women's chorus as The Pregnant Chads.
The childrens chorus can be The Dimpled Chads. They might even
be able to sing some of that "in giro, in giro" stuff from
Mefistofele since this thing keeps going round and round.
Date: December 13, 2000 12:44 PM
Author: Odeen
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
And the male chorus would be The Hanging Chads?
Date: December 13, 2000 07:54 PM
Author: William Strzempek
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Set and match to Odeen! Very funny!
Date: December 12, 2000 10:20 PM
Author: Steve Arnold
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Perhaps the three network news anchors could be portrayed as comic
figures like Ping, Pang, and Pong.
Or one could also stage a concept production of Turandot, with the
Princess representing symbolically an election victory, with a
pair of Calafs, a pair of Timurs -- let them each find their
political father . . .
I'd better stop before this actually becomes someone's production
somewhere.
Date: December 13, 2000 08:22 PM
Author: Joan Abel
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Good analogy to Turandot. The heads will roll!
Date: December 12, 2000 09:07 PM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
at this point it looks like this opera has no ending!
Date: December 13, 2000 07:27 AM
Author: Alan Bromberg
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
It does now, but I'm not sure whether it's a tragedy or a comedy.
How about Samuel Ramey for Justice Scalia, carrying a marionette
as far to the right as he can reach as Clarence Thomas?
Date: December 13, 2000 08:44 AM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Yes, there is an end and it is not happy for either side. Stupid
and wimpy Supreme Court. How about a variation on the dragon
from Siegfried for the Supremes? A large marrionette with 8
heads?
Date: December 13, 2000 08:49 AM
Author: Alan Bromberg
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
In view of the split on the Supreme Court, I suggest a flying
dragon with a large right wing and a small left wing.
Date: December 13, 2000 10:52 AM
Author: Mark French
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
I'm laughing only to keep from crying.
Date: December 13, 2000 09:23 PM
Author: Don Operatico (donoperatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
There's a left wing....?
I'm sorry, but this country is
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssed UP!
Date: December 13, 2000 01:04 PM
Author: David Barcena
Subject: Al and W
I
love it! The only casting changes I would make would be for Joe
Lieberman - I would cast either Neil Shicoff or Neil Rosenshein to
make
it more authentic. Just in case the composer and librettist
want to include a prayer scene at a temple. Am I right?
Date: December 13, 2000 01:16 PM
Author: Tenore Maggiore
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
How about Charlotte Church playing Chelsea?
Beverly should not play Barbara Bush. I think she should be the
heroine. Maybe she should play Ginsburg.
Brad
Date: December 13, 2000 07:22 PM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Give it to Astrid Varnay. Klytemnestra indeed! Barbara Bush in the
opera should be scary.
Add a snow sceen but use chads instead of snow flakes. Add a
ballet too at this point. "The Dance of the Seven Chads" or "The
Dance of Chads".
Date: December 13, 2000 07:57 PM
Author: William Strzempek
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Barbara's a much better role. Everyone likes playing the villain.
Date: December 13, 2000 09:31 PM
Author: Don Operatico (donoperatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Caterina di Florida
I.1.Enter Giorgio. He sings of his new-found joy at having 'won" the
election and the hand of Media. His brother Alberto arrives. Giorgio
tells the horrible tale of how -- after finding his beloved Caterina
with
Bucanano, Giorgio took her to Disneyland and left her in
Cinderella's Castle, crying "Here you remain!" At his accusation of
having defiled the marriage bed with Bucanano, she fainted (but was
caught by one of the Seven Dwarfs, or a Miami mobster, I forget
which). Later, stricken with sudden remorse, he bribed a tour guiide
to
let her out, but he himself had fled to Texas, where, owing to
his
engagement with Media, he was all set to win the election. On
hearing this news, Alberto realizes that he and Giorgio are rivals;
but, in a moment of weakness, concedes the election.
Possibly to be continued
Date: December 13, 2000 10:51 PM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Call the sequel "Chadgate".
Four years ahead of chad chad chad chad.
Date: December 14, 2000 09:08 PM
Author: Don Operatico (donoperatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Caterina di Florida, cont.
I.2: An old retainer, Clarenzio di Tommaso, is milling about the
White House, when he sees a mysterious figure weeping before a
portrait of Giorgio Sr. He is astounded (though the audience is
not -- but the average IQ of an opera character is not very
high, and Clarenzio is by no means the brightest star in that
particular firmament) to behold Caterina. She urges that he be
silent. She has not come for worldly glory; for but one purpose
possesses her: to ensure that her beloved Giorgio Jr. win the
election, and then to betake herself to the talk shows, where
she shall die. Ah! cries Clarenzio, to what madness has thy
unrestrained love impelled thee? Unless it be nepotism.
I.3.Speaking of which, Gebaldo, the brother of Giorgio (I forgot
to mention that Alberto isn't really his brother, but one whose
father died on the scaffold, and whose mother was kidnapped by
the Gypsies and sold into slavery before leaving her son to be
apprenticed by pirates, and a lot of other struff which you can
look up in the libretto if it amuses you -- it certainly doesn't
amuse me in the slightest) and Caterina have a quiet duet, in
which Caterina pledges herself to do anything for Giorgio, and
Gebaldo approves of her wisdom in so doing. Caterina is all set
to hand Giorgio the election on a silver platter, so long as he
lets her join him and Media in a ménage à trois. But
suddenly
Alberto enters with a court order for a hand-recount.
Consternation ensues in the Act I Finale. Will evil triumph?
Date: December 15, 2000 01:33 AM
Author: george topinges
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Has anyone cast Renata Scotto as the Florida Sec. of State?
Date: December 15, 2000 06:46 AM
Author: marc
Subject: Al and W -- The Opera
Metzner is cast as Harris.
I have an additional role:
Linda Trip - Deborah Voigt
Date: December 16, 2000 07:57 PM
Author: Don Operatico (donoperatico@hotmail.com)
Subject: Caterina di Florida
Act
II: Caterina offers herself to Alberto if he'll concede the
election ... but he refuses, for more alluring to him are the White
House interns. Knowing that Alberto has won the "popular" vote,
Caterina is desolate. She lametns Giorgio's fate in a melancholy
cantabile; then, in the cabaletta, she harasses a chorus of
minorities and other partisans of Alberto, to prevent them from
voting. Unfortunately, Alberto appears, draws his sword, and stabs
Caterina.
III.Caterina is not dead, but has been seen haunting Disneyland in
spectral guise. The chorus of hand-counters sings "Myah-nyah!"
Enraged, Giorgio sends a chorus of sgherri (goons) and sicari, led
by
Tommaso di Laio, to rough them up. Alberto fends them off; but
Giorgio challenges him to a duel. As they fight, Clarenzio di
Tommaso stabs Giorgio from behind. Tommaso di Laio reveals his true
identity: Caterina di Florida! She laughs hysterically at the dying
Alberto before herself dying. For good measure, Clarenzio di Tommaso
dies
of a surfeit of pornography; Media dies of stupidity and for
having played no part whatsoever in the opera. Alberto dies of
"bipartisanship." Giorgio yet lives, even triumphs; but is already
brain dead.