Wainwright moves from pop to opera
By Vincent Dowd
BBC World Service, LeedsSinger-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has always been an unclassifiable talent but now comes an even bigger departure - a full-length opera.
The opera entitled Prima Donna is his first and was initially announced for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
However, the deal fell through partly because the show was going to wait years for a production.
This week Wainwright, the orchestra and the cast of four move from Leeds - where they have been rehearsing - to the Palace Theatre, Manchester for Prima Donna's premiere, as part of the city's international festival.
The flamboyant Wainwright has recorded five albums of his own material and made a splash three years ago reconstructing an old Judy Garland concert at Carnegie Hall.
But is he ready for the big transition from pop writer to composer?
"It depends what language. In French I don't mind being a 'compositeur'. But the circumstances are often a little grander there. In English it sounds a little strange," says Wainwright.
Prima Donna dramatises a day in the life of fictional soprano Regine Saint-Laurent who, having reached a certain age, has to decide if her career is over.
Wainwright knows some audiences will compare her with Maria Callas.
Indeed he studied BBC television interviews with Callas from 1968 as research.
"I borrowed heavily from her legend but it's in no way about her," he says.
"But she was such a powerful force in opera that there was no way to get around her."
But there were other influences too, such as the movie Sunset Boulevard, says Wainwright.
Wainwright insisted on writing Prima Donna in French and is certain he was right to do so.
"It was more of an insurance issue. Opera in English sometimes really works and sometimes it really doesn't," he says.
"I can't think of any opera where because it's in French it's worse. I just wanted to have it beautiful."
Listening to one of the early orchestral rehearsals it is clear Prima Donna aspires to the melodic energy and the elegance of a Verdi or a Puccini.
Though there has always been a theatricality to Wainwright's work, the lushness of the sound may surprise fans of his rockier stuff.
Playing Regine, Janis Kelly gives all the intensity she would to any classic role.
Pulling it all together is the American director Daniel Kramer.
He says the show has to appeal not just to the dedicated "Rufusettes" but also to regular opera-goers who may feel wary of a writer with no record in the theatre.
"What I'm excited about are the big opera fans coming to experience a work which pulls upon so many genres and styles and moments from the past," he says.
"It celebrates the tradition of opera versus the most radical, modern, atonal, dissonant piece of work which is off-putting to most people."
One-off
Wainwright says he wrote most of Prima Donna on tour.
"I just told myself I'd work for one hour a day on it, even if it just meant sitting at the piano and staring into space. The human mind is always working. You'll be surprised at the work done without you even thinking about it."
He has always been a one-off talent and his work has often invited comparison with the likes of Cole Porter or Harold Arlen as much as with his contemporaries.
Does that mean the shift to writing for the stage has been straightforward?
"It's never easy. That's the great thing about opera - no matter how trained or knowledgeable you are it's always going to take every little ounce of your being. It's a full body experience, no matter what."
Wainwright has always been deeply ambitious: recently he has been busy in Berlin setting Shakespearean sonnets to music.
He says he is not about to abandon pop music.
But if Prima Donna is a success on stage it is unlikely to be his final assault on the world's opera houses.
Prima Donna plays 10-19 July as part of the Manchester International Festival. It will also be touring to London, Melbourne and Toronto.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8137133.stmPublished: 2009/07/09 07:28:52 GMT
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