Look, I don’t understand this at all. Some sort of Wagnerian total art thing? The connection between comics and opera does not make any sort of intrinsic sense to me, but I applaud the savvy marketing and outreach efforts of the Portland Opera, who regularly inspires some of Portland’s finest comic book talents to create art based on their performances—the results of the Turandot comics art night are up now, and definitely worth a look.
But Opera Theater Oregon might’ve just raised the stakes with a “singing comic book” teasing their new show Out of Eden, drawn by animator/artist Dan Schaefer and accompanied by music featuring OTO singers Claire Craig-Sheets and Daniel Buchanan. Check it out here.
I guess traditionally, you’re supposed to know the plot of an opera before you see the thing. So a comic book rundown before the show would be like those Ikea cartoon instructions for assembling a shitty dresser.
But instead of a shitty dresser, an opera. And instead of an Allen wrench, more of that opera.
P. Craig Russel, a noted comic artist did a bunch of Opera as comics years ago, they’re gorgeous. I suspect he wasn’t the first, but he captures an aesthetic that made me, an Opera ignoramous, go see one.