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Updated 170 Days ago
St. Louis Opera does 18th Century Pop
In 1989 Milli Vanilli had four of the top 28 songs in the year ending top 40. One out of every seven songs in America's heart came from the lip-synching Germans.
203 years earlier and Opera called "Una Cosa Rara" by Vincente Martin Y Soler was all the rage in Austria. It outsold a show called "Marriage of Figaro" by a guy named Mozart hands down.
As it turned out that Mozart guy was pretty good, Milli Vanilli was a complete fraud, and the size of the audience proved little to nothing about quality.
All that said, the Opera Theater of St. Louis is going the pop route in a couple of weeks, reprising "Una Cosa Rara" in a production that's receiving national attention. Billed as "so popular it outsold Mozart," it demonstrates how some things stay the same, even over the centuries. How, you ask? By demonstrating the way to mass ticket sales is through a romantic comedy! (I wonder if some 18th century Hugh Grant played the lead role. Drew Barrymore or Jennifer Anniston as the doting gal?)
The play holds on to its original title, but the St. Louis ensemble will perform it in translated English. That's a first. In fact, it's reportedly only been staged twice before in the United States.
Score one for originality here in St. Louis. By the way, according to the New York Times and others, "Una Cosa Rara" is far superior to anything Milli Vanilli ever did.
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