Sunday, July 12, 2009

bfk's Oedipus (compliments from a charter member of the fan club)


Aristotle, who knew about these kinds of things, was so taken with Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus that he became a charter member of the first fan club. And now, twenty-five centuries later, you can sing along with it.

-from Introducing a New Operatic Musical, home page of bfk's Oedipus



I don't know much about these kinds of things, but I am so taken with bfk's Oedipus that I've been visiting the website and singing along with an amazing new work, a new operatic musical, that I think is brilliant.

Even if the musical itself was less than remarkable (but it is remarkable), the website is noteworthy for artistic and navigational excitement, and could/should win awards on that front alone. Ah, but the music...original, dazzling, and also (all so) fun. The cast...accomplished, excellent vocalists all. The chorus...ONE OF A KIND. How so? Let a portion of the website explain, and tantalize.
What's that? Less than perfectly synchronized? What do you expect from a demo of a demos? These are plague sufferers not the goddamn '33 Gold Diggers. An excellent way to achieve this natural effect is to not let the cast sing together. Indeed, our Chorus have never even met each other. Though some might think this a grievous break in tradition, and Choregus (exposition financier) worth his salt (salary), would immediately see the cost-benefit of this arrangement. Once again Art is sacrificed at the cruel foot of Commerce.

So complete is the website that the Virtual Tour presents all the songs performed in the Production. What I love so much about this is that you can spend as much time as you want or as little time as you have -- and I have been doing both in my visits -- and leave feeling like it was time very well spent.

bfk's Oedipus
is a groundbreaking work, an ingenious leap across centuries, and a modern musical masterpiece from the brain of one mind-boggling writer and singular artist. Or, as he describes himself in his About the Author page of the website: bfk is a satirical writer living in New York City. When he's not busy writing opera, he's busy not writing satire.

While you are at the About the Author page, be sure to move your curser over the graphic at the top left of the page to uncover a picture of bfk as a tot with his Dalmatian, titled "Portrait of the Artist with a Young Dog." I didn't know bfk when he was that tot..........

.......However, I've known him since 8th grade when we were in Herr Bradley's German class together in Reno! He is one of the old friends I've recently reconnected with via Facebook, the kind of friend who, no matter the length of time since last contact, when asked "What's new?" always has a fascinating response. Composing an operatic musical more than qualifies as a fascinating response, and, that his turned out to be one of such structure, musicality, innovation, and artistic expression shouldn't have been astonishing, either. Except it was. Astonishing. Because he's still doing it, after all these years.....living a creative life. Being that creative former middle-and-high school classmate/college iconoclast idol/guitar jamming buddy to ex-husband/best original x-mas card creator ever/world traveler/follower of dreams/maker of dreams come true/romantic friend-with-benefits for a short while/author of bfk's Oedipus/Facebook and Forever Friend.


I wish great things for bfk's Oedipus, mainly that it be appreciated by a wide audience. So I'm publishing this blog post with much enthusiasm and high hopes that my readers will share it with others. I guess you could call me a charter member of the fan club.

Now, bfk, take a bow.

.

12 comments:

francessa said...

Hi Lydia,

I'm back again from seclusion.

What an amazing website, what a great project! Thanks for sharing. I'll have to delve into it for more.

Nancy said...

That's fascinating (for me, coming from Reno)! I have never joined Facebook, but it sounds like fun. So does this opera. Thanks for sharing.

Maggie May said...

well thank you for the hookup :) i'll check it out

Darlene said...

I did a short scan and plan to go back when I have more time. I have always loved Greek Mythology, architecture, sculpture, etc. I guess I am trying to say I loved the culture of that period. I am sure I will enjoy Oedipus (Rex?)

Rhiannon said...

I was impressed with just your write up on this. Reads like a "Professional Review" very good Lydia.

I hope you'll drop by my blog to celebrate the "4 years of my Blog" anniversay..leave a comment or a "memory" or just drop by to cay "hi".

Back to the subject at hand. How nice to reconnect with a very old friend and see that they are still the dreamer still "connected" with the true "creative" parts of themselves living their life as who they truley are "inside" their spirit.

I must really must work on myself to get "back" to this creative point also..all of us should...too much "Business at hand" and dealing with stress in our lives is not the way to lead a life.

Thanks for this post..its a reminder for me to attune myself more with my true spirit creative self and stop all this "taking care of business crap" which is driving me nuts!

I wish I could hear the music but as I mentioned before still on my ole pc..I won't be able to ship the laptop (that crashed) to the person who will try and fix it for me yet. My laptop is an older one and is rather heavy so saving my pennies to mail it off hopefully next month.

Drop by and say hi Lyida..

Rhi

Lydia said...

@Francessa- Yea! Glad to have you back and I hope your trip away was rejuvenating. I figured that you would definitely appreciate bfk's website and project. :)

@Nancy- Yup, just think: you, bfk, and I were all there in Reno at the same time. You were a few years behind us so we probably just missed crossing paths. Speaking of crossing paths: Facebook is an amazing vehicle to put you right at the intersection!

@Maggie May- Hope you enjoy your visits to bfk's Oedipus website. :)

@Darlene- That's great that you did some preliminary looking around and will return. I think you will appreciate it very much. Did you travel to Greece in any of your trips abroad?

@Rhi- Happy 4th Blogiversary! That is wonderful. I've been bad about visiting your blog and I promise to do that tonight.

And thank you, Rhi, for your comments on the review. I'm glad you could tell I put thought into it. I'm truly sorry you don't have an adequate computer right now to listen to the music. You and your blog deserve a new one and I hope that can happen for you soon.

La Belette Rouge said...

Every year at the Getty museum they have Greek tragedies and comedies performed in the middle of the Getty villa. It is fantastic. The only thing better would be to see it in Greece.

I love the web page. And, the satire is fantastic. Love "Zorba the Rock" and "Have you seen the Seer?" I hope they bring this production to the Getty!

Lydia said...

@La Belette Rouge- The performances at the Getty villa sound amazing! Thank you for sharing the tidbit of info, because I'm going to look for a website. Wouldn't it be great if bfk's Oedipus actually could get there in the future?!

Sharing an interesting note, here. When I first discovered your blog I sent bfk the link because I thought it was one he'd appreciate. He did. So I'm not at all surprised that you delighted in his website and satire. :)

Anders Enochsson said...

Oh, this looks exciting! Why don’t we have that sort of thing in Sweden…
Thanks for the post.
/Ande

Robin said...

Oh what fun.....thank you for sharing this. :-D

Thanks for stopping by today.
Hope your day has been beautiful.
xoxo

dmarks said...

Quite interesting.

Lydia said...

@Ande- Well, you have the website to enjoy bfk's Oedipus, and if he does get to present it at the Getty villa someday then we can hope that Belette will be there to post photos of it at her blog for us to see!

@Robin- Yes, great fun. I'm glad you'll enjoy it.
My day was great yesterday; yours too I hope!

@dmarks- Good to hear from you!

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