I’m not much of an opera buff, but when I read this story, it definitely pricked my untrained ears.
There’s going to be an opera about the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan throwdown, and it evidently features an aria named “Why? Why? Why?” which is what Nancy apparently cried when she got whacked by that Gillooly character. Now what a brilliant idea.
Novelist Elizabeth Searle, who wrote the libretto (and who seems to have a bit of a Nancy Kerrigan fixation, because she also wrote a novella, “Celebrities in Disgrace,” about an aspiring actress who is trying out for the part of Kerrigan in a TV movie, and which is itself being made into a film, how very meta), says that America is “full of Tonyas who want to be Nancys,” which is really a fascinating way of summing up who we really are, and so my question to you is this:
Are you a Tonya, or are you a Nancy?
I’m rather afraid that I’m always somewhere en route between the two, and wishing there were a third choice.
Matt’s going to be so mad at me. I’m totally lowering the tone of this previously fine and respectable publication. Worst. Guest. Blogger. Ever.
6 Comments on "Opera"
ol cranky:
I think Matt will approve :)
Suzy Shedd:
No, no Rod — this is FULL of tone. Lots of them, caterwauling up the scale. (FYI, only a musical sadist would make what will presumably be a soprano warble around on the long I sound in “why.” She’ll have to sing it as “wha” and then flip a little “eee” on at the end.) But to the question: it’s happened; it’s proven! Aaarrrggghhh! All those wing nuts who said I’m not an American (or not a good one, anyway) with my disgraceful views — they were RIGHT. Because not only am I not, most definitely, a Tanya; I’ve never wanted (oh, the horror) to be a Nancy! (Of course, I don’t remember signing up to be a feminazi traitor-monkey, either, but in the process of trying to be a good person that seems to be what I’ve become.)
yoko:
This makes me ill. And in spite of that, I do like your posts– reminiscent of the days when you were a regular writer of Tattered Coat.
Eric:
On a somehow-related note, there is also “Monica the Musical”, which also deals with a controversial blow, of sorts, and captured the public’s attention for a period of time in the 90s. It had been playing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in NYC, although I don’t know if it’s still running.
Rod:
Which is here:
http://www.monicathemusical.com/
cookie:
I think I waver between Nancy-ism and Tonya-ism all day long. It all depends on what activity i’m partaking in and my skill level and confidence.
and you aren’t the worst guest blogger ever. i really enjoy your stuff. And by “stuff,” I mean in a literary sense.
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