“Skyler, Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see? Do you know how many people run in fear of me? Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe it. My audience is so big, the world can’t even conceive it! If I leave now, this empire disappears. Then surely my fans will shed many tears! No, you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to, so let me clue you in. I am not in danger, Skyler. It is danger that you are in! You think of me, a man who gets on stage just to hear others sing? No Skyler. I am the one who Sings!”
The lovely folks at The Wrap have reported that Percy Bysshe Shelley’s original poem and Breaking Bad‘s episode that share the title ‘Ozymandias’ will be adapted in to an opera via One World Symphony. If you don’t know who they are or what they do, according to their main web page, they are a symphony based in New York, and they have a very specific goal:
Deliver dynamic programming and a vibrant performances, which actively engage its audiences through innovative musical demonstrations
Sun Jin Hong, who is both the composer-conductor and artistic director, seems to have found Breaking Bad to be quite compelling (because yeah who didn’t). He mentioned in a blog post saying:
“Cancer became an allegory for evil for the protagonist in ‘Breaking Bad.’When Walt White was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, we the audience emotionally supported him and forgave some of his actions, as they may have appeared to be justified. When the cancer went into remission, an intangible cancer was growing — his hubris and lust for power.”
Hmmm… This one is indeed a head scratcher. It’s not that this is a bad thing necessarily, it’s just why do an opera based on an episode that aired near the end of the fifth season of a show? Yeah, we saw the episode, but what happens in that episode is something that was built up over the previous seasons. The reason why ‘Ozymandias’ was so intense, was because we have been so emotionally invested with these characters. We have seen them from the beginning grow and fall, and the events that unfolded in that episode was because of the weight of everything starts crashing down. Yeah sure, you can do a fun little opera and paraphrase everything that happened, but it still won’t have the same effect. However, Hong also wants to work in the original poem, which if you haven’t read it, essentially describes the mentality and character of our favorite chemistry teacher. Still, this seems like quite the task that he has on his hands. But hey, who knows, maybe this will be good and I will gladly eat my words!
So fellow OOUies, here’s a question for ya. If you were to name this Opera, what would it be? I would title it, “Singing in the Blue Rain” because that sounds bad ass. What do you think about the idea of a Breaking Bad Opera? Whatever it is, comment below and let One of Us know!
Via The Wrap
