"Even if you are a diehard opera fan with dozens of HOT productions under your belt, I understand attending something like The Shining opera, can seem, well, scary! But I hope you will give it a chance..."

‍Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Opera?
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‍ “Opera is scary!”

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that phrase, or something along those lines. But what that usually means is: “I have not experienced it, so I do not know what to expect,” which can be scary. But why do we fear the unknown?

With just a little research, the answer is pretty simple: It is because our brains are hardwired by evolution to treat uncertainty and unpredictability as potential survival threats. It is a natural self-defense mechanism. The fight-or-flight response. And yet, we all (well, many of us…) enjoy being scared. We enjoy a scary movie or book because they trigger a safe, thrilling rush of adrenaline in a controlled environment. You are safe from the scary thing because you are sitting on a couch or in your bed, or in a theater packed with other people eagerly awaiting the frightening thing.

As someone who has loved scary movies and stories since I was very young, I would argue that it is the anticipation of a scary event – a monster suddenly appearing in a window, the lights and phone dying at the same time – that is what truly gets the ‘high’ of released endorphins. And that is where a good soundtrack – or an opera score – can make all the difference.

I am reminded of a very funny ad campaign for GEICO Insurance, “Horror Movie/Poor Decisions.” If you have not seen it, I highly recommend doing a quick search online. The ad features four teenagers running through the woods at night, frantically trying to escape a masked, chainsaw-wielding killer.  

By the end, even the killer is rolling his eyes at the hapless group of teens as they make one ridiculously bad decision after another. An exaggerated – but not by much – version of every slasher flick ever made…even a classic like John Carpenter’s Halloween. I mean, Jamie Lee Curtis’s character seems so smart! But did she really think those louvered closet doors would hide her?

But what does this all have to do with opera, and HOT specifically?

Well, as it turns out, we are giving people a reason to be truly afraid of opera by presenting The Shining in an adaptation of celebrated author Stephen King’s 1977 best-selling novel. And what better time for a frightening opera experience than over Halloween weekend? The Shining, the opera, was commissioned by the Minnesota Opera. It premiered to sold-out performances in May 2016 and has been packing opera houses around the world since then! If early sales are any indication, HOT’s performances will be at capacity too (so, get your tickets ASAP)!

The adaptation of King’s novel was done by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winning librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell. A prolific writer, Mark has created 45 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals, and the text for 12 song cycles and 7 oratorios.

But why The Shining? What makes it worthy of an operatic treatment?

Mark writes, “When they approached me to adapt the work into the libretto for an opera, I had only seen the Kubrick movie and was very apprehensive about taking on the commission. How could an opera make an audience forget about that iconic movie? And what in the movie is ‘operatic;’ what characters undergo the kind of transformation music demands?”

He continues, “Once I started reading Mr. King’s novel, those fears were mostly dispelled; the novel indeed has all the makings of a great opera.”Composer Paul Moravec is impressive in his own right, with a 2004 Pulitzer in Music and over 200 compositions to his credit. He notes, “It’s really a very moving story about a family trying to stay together under extraordinary circumstances. And that is super operatic. It’s what attracted us to the story.”

LEARN MORE: Read notes by both Mark (here) and Paul (here) on the making of The Shining.

‍Are you still scared?

Even if you are a diehard opera fan with dozens of HOT productions under your belt, I understand attending something like The Shining opera, can seem, well, scary! But I hope you will give it a chance. See why Opera News called it, “…as riveting as anything I’ve ever seen in a theatre.”

Andrew