Hans Werner Henze: Der Junge Lord (1968)

[lester1/2jr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTKqLT2EmmU               



I couldn't find the opera section so I'll just post this here.   Here is a classic, I guess  I wouldn't know,  german opera about a british aristocrat guy who moves to town and eventually dresses a monkey up in peoples clothes and tricks people into believing this monkey is his son.  Everyone tries to impress the monkey /son and excuse his bizarre behaviour and it's to illustrate typical nationalist sort of themes that everything from outside Germany is bad and will humilate you.  Sort of the opposite of the current immigration debate in the US, instead of low skiled workers the invader is a snob.


          These sound like spoilers but the twist there is in the plot description and in opera they tell you everything that is going to happen in the upcoming scene before it starts.  I liked the young lord's pink satin outfit but liked the rival suitor guys Burberry's type red corderoy jacket too.  No wonder the young woman played by Edith Mathis had a such a hard time choosing between them.  He is more like a malfunctioning robot than a monkey and how did they teach him to talk much less sing?  major plot hole but okay.


4/5  Opera IS an endurence test but I liked this despite it's reactionary sort of message.  the previews are for much more current opera offereings and are decidedly more bizarre, including one that's a take on Alice in Wonderland wher Alice's head  which looks like a disco ball comes off  and is batted around by nightmare-ish paddle weiling weirdos.  Another one features topless singers.  ich bin ein Berliner!

[lester1/2jr]

here is a scene from the Alice in Wonderland one.  it doesn't have when the head comes off but it is sufficiently strange I assure you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7EX2XGhM0c

[Rev. Powell]

After THE GLOBOLINKS, and now this, I think you've become badmovies.org's official opera correspondent, Lester!

[lester1/2jr]

this was a better opera than the globolinks but I kind of liked the globolinks better.  I have the alice in wonderland one in my qeue but I can't remember the name of the topless people one.  Yes I am the opera go to guy hooray.

now that the one person who could possibly have been intersted in this review has read it, it can fade off into the german night

[Rev. Powell]

Surely there are some other opera lovers here?  Actually, I love classical music but I hate opera...  I would probably watch the topless one, though.  You could probably get Jack to check it out too...

[lester1/2jr]

I have always hated it but now I am starting to get it

[lester1/2jr]

I watched "Alice in Wonderland"  my review:

This is really the ultimate endurance test.  Imagine if you saw a production of "Alice in Wonderland" that had a really creepy nightmare sequence that, despite some odd diversions into silly wordplay and all the plainly visible wires floating people around, was pretty impressive. 

           Now imagine that the WHOLE THING is just that scene and it is over 2 hours long.   As in most operas, there isn't a discernible tune to the music.  Alice sounds kind of like the cow from Pee Wee's Playhouse " MOOOOvelous".   The economy will recover before I recover from this.



edit:  here is the afformentioned topless opera


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKlvGTAbmas