After weeks of resistance, I finally succumbed last night to the operablogosphere's latest craze, The Omniscient Mussel's #operaplot game. For the 3 people in the world who've not heard about it yet, the idea is briefly this: via Twitter, summarise an opera in no more than 130 characters. The competition has been running for a while now and closes tomorrow afternoon Sydney time. The initial limit of 10 entries per person has now been lifted, but since the ideas haven't been flowing nearly as easily for me as they apparently have for some others, I think 10 will do for now. And since I'm at a loss right now for anything decent and substantial to blog about, I'm afraid I will fall back on old tricks and offer a list in lieu of content.
So, with apologies for any and all cringeworthiness, my #operaplot contributions are as follows:
1. Soluble, voluble sprite prays to moon for love. Gets wish and legs. Loses voice and the boy. Comes to a Grimm end.
2. It's just like The Sound of Music, but with ghosts & Freudian angst instead of schmaltz & Nazis. And the kids are even creepier.
3. Contestant on macabre Hungarian gameshow ignores all hints from the host and opens one mystery door too many.
4. PTSD victim? Shampoo ad? Bluebeard's ex? Or maybe she's just not that into you. Ask your brother.
5. 19yo SWF seeks Croat 4 marriage of love/convenience. No ties except 1 v. confused sister. R U my Mr Right? Photo on request.
6. Treehugger jilts transvestite & chases brother's girl. Girl's sister helps: she wants the brother. Springer: The Opera? Not yet.
7. Noble lady trapped in harem of surprisingly complex Pasha. Will her fiancé get to her before Stockholm syndrome does?
8. Mother-in-law from hell drives her son's frustrated young wife into the arms of another, into madness and into the Volga.
9. Parisian mistress rings ex for long and painful chat. Kills herself when she realises he'll never pay her phone bill again.
10. Amatory lepidopterist traps fragile specimen among Nagasaki cherry blossoms. Fumbling to release her, he crushes her instead.
Numbers 3, 7 and 10 are very fine indeed and if one of them doesn't win you an accolade I will eat a plate of tomatoes.
Actually, I quite like 1, 2 and 8 as well, but if I include them the odds of me having to eat tomatoes goes up.
Glad you succumbed.
Posted by: Thomasina | Monday, May 04, 2009 at 07:07 AM
Who are the other two?
Posted by: wanderer | Monday, May 04, 2009 at 08:52 AM
I hope you have submitted these, they're very, very good. The 'Stockholm syndrome' gag is priceless!
I only came up with '338 years is a long time between drinks'
Posted by: michael | Monday, May 04, 2009 at 09:57 AM
I can only figure out half of these! Sarah, you are too clever.
Posted by: Simon | Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 02:38 PM
OK, here, by request, are the operas plotted above.
1. Rusalka
2. Turn of the Screw
3. Bluebeard's Castle
4. Pelléas et Mélisande
5. Arabella
6. Xerxes (Serse)
7. Die Entführung aus dem Serail
8. Kat'a Kabanova
9. La voix humaine
10. Madama Butterfly
Posted by: Sarah | Monday, June 15, 2009 at 12:14 AM