14 November 2022, 07:04 AM
RichardFH451: The Rock Opera!
Many know that Ray Bradbury worked with composers to create a musical stage production of FAHRENHEIT 451. However, there was also a multimedia rock opera created, in Italy, from Ray's novel. It utilized live performances, background screen projection, and modern rock music. Among the songs incorporated into the work were Tears for Fears' "Shout" and The Doors' "Light My Fire" (a natural choice, of course). The link below will take you to several minutes of filmed snippets from the production. It looks fascinating, and I only wish I could view the play in its entirety!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmd4DWHLDA022 December 2022, 06:45 AM
RichardIt turns out that FAHRENHEIT 451 wasn't the only Ray Bradbury work to be transformed into a rock opera. In 2018, a rock opera version of THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, called THE BRADBURY TATOOS, had its premiere in Cincinnati, Ohio. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any video clips from the musical. However, here are a few news articles relating to that production:
https://www.citybeat.com/arts/...concertnova-12171238https://cincymusic.com/blog/20...e-fiction-yes-please And here is a brief interview with the show's creators. It's interesting that they say that the death of David Bowie helped to inspire the musical's creation since, as prior postings on this forum have noted, David Bowie was a huge Ray Bradbury fan! (If you are new to the forum and would like to read about Ray's encounters with that rock icon, do a search by using the "Find" button above, and type in David Bowie as your search term):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ByhfiOn2M13 November 2023, 05:35 PM
RichardThe link below will take you to another musical tribute to Ray Bradbury. From 2009, a group called God of Shamisen plays "The Science Fiction of Ray Bradbury Attack". The background film behind the musicians includes not only clips of Ray from his television series and shots of some of his books, but clips from films having nothing to do with him (including FORBIDDEN PLANET and Ray Harryhausen's EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqGQa-Hx11007 November 2024, 01:26 PM
fjp451This F451 adaptation just released and would make an amazing production by Martyna Majok, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright:
https://playbill.com/article/m...it-451-for-the-stageShe must include the Mechanical Hound!!