Opera Isn’t In Trouble, It’s Just In An Awkward Phase

“Opera ain’t what it used to be. More to the point, opera companies aren’t what they used to be. The art form is not standing still. It’s growing, uncontrollably, by leaps and messy bounds,” writes Mark Swed – who argues that the problems at U.S. opera’s flagship, the Met, are more about the Met than the art form, and that the controversy over The Death of Klinghoffer demonstrates opera’s innate power.

Got A Problem On Broadway? Call The Arranger

“He has shape-shifted alongside Eric Idle on ‘Spamalot,’ John Kander on ‘The Scottsboro Boys,’ and Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Bobby Lopez on ‘Mormon,’ for which he did dance arrangements only (though that assignment included the chance to write a spiky, Metallica-inspired guitar solo for the Devil in ‘Spooky Mormon Hell Dream’).”