If I may ask a moderately insane question in good faith:
What makes an opera an opera and not say, a stage musical? Like what's the defining features of the genre or is it a no-firm-borders "CATS is an opera in the same way a hotdog is a sandwich" situation?
absolutely not a moderately insane question because it is a genuine question! and i would honestly say that yeah, CATS is an opera in the same way a hotdog is a sandwich, because they're all related ideas and exist in context with each other.
the short answer is: it depends!
the slightly longer answer is: everything is made up and the points dont matter!
the real answer is this: it's kind of entirely arbitrary and comes down to a lot of ideas about high and low art, as well as historical precedence.
one of the first metrics people usually cite for "is it an opera or a musical" is whether or not there's spoken dialogue (separate from recitative, which is melodic dialogue accompanied by light music) but that falls apart in the face of operetta (gilbert&sullivan) and singspiel (zauberflöte, or famously die entführung aus dem serail, which has completely straight spoken dialogue without any melody at all and literally does not make sense without it. saw a production once where they cut the pasha's dialogue and that aint die entführung, baystaats) and then, the inverse with musicals with little spoken dialogue (les mis).
some people categorize it based on amplification (so, opera is done without mics/musicals are done with mics) but i've seen opera done with mics (again, baystaats, what the fuck was up with that die entführung?) and musicals done without (jesus christ superstar at the lyric was WILD)
i think the best differentiation to make is based on 1) the musical balance and 2) creator intention.
i'm not a person who understands music very well, but for me as a viewer/listener, i think of operatic music as being more about the relationship between orchestra and singers, and the support of the orchestra to give the fuller context to the emotions and thoughts by the singers. in musicals more often the vocals are supporting the orchestra, although this is still also not always true.
one thing that is usually true is that operatic voice is a very different beast from musical voice. some performers can cross over and do so very successfully, but many cannot, because the operatic voice is really designed for a very particular kind of singing, and many musical singers can't do what operatic singers do, even on mics. it's a different set of muscles and skills.
the other aspect is creator intention. there are some musicals that are verging on opera (phantom and hadestown are big ones) and some operas that are verging on musicals (again, gilbert and sullivan), but the intention behind the music. you could, very easily, put on zauberflöte like a musical—and people have done productions like this for kids all the time!—but at the end of a day, the intended nature of the art was as an opera, and it maintains operatic traditions that don't match musical traditions. you could, vice versa, easily do JCS as an opera, but it would still maintain musical traditions and not operatic ones.
there are a lot more detailed posts about this on the internet by people who understand music better than i do but at the end of the day i kind of still default to "i know an opera if i hear it" and a huge part of that does kind of boil down to how the voice is used. it's part of what makes phantom of the opera so cool to me—it's got fully operatic voice pieces (christine) next to fully musical ones (basically every ensemble number).
but at the end of the day: it's arbitrary. it depends. it's kind of up to the individual. sometimes people use "opera" to mean "high art" and "musical" to mean "low art" and sometimes they use "opera" to mean "a particular genre of vocal and orchestral music that developed in the 17th century and has continued to be refined and is an essential part of modern musical theatre tradition" but like. yeah essentially i'll know it if i hear it.
that said.
oh my god i want to see someone do don giovanni in a musical theatre style. just the whole damn opera but staged like a musical. im begging someone. i mean this is basically what the lyric 2015 production is they do have don giovanni on a table and elvira with a motorcycle but GO FURTHER.
The Prince of Bouillon, Adriana Lecouvreur, Teatro Massimo di Palermo (2009)
The people spoke and the verdict was for an alphabetical descent into the Roberto Tagliavini Cinematic Universe. You thought it was going to be Aïda, I thought it was going to be Aïda, then I rediscovered this pixelated little gemstone of a production.
Without further ado, let me present Adriana Lecouvreur, a 1902 Italian opera by Francesco Cilea detailing the downfall of one of France’s leading 18th century actresses.
The Prince of Bouillon, an ageing dandy and patron of the theatre, is the unwitting lynchpin of the tragedy. Suspecting his mistress of infidelity he arranges for the entire theatre troupe to attend a surprise party at his villa, intending to catch her in the arms of Maurizio - the Count of Saxony.
Instead he unknowingly catches his own wife, the Princess of Bouillon, and it is Adriana Lecouvreur - the real lover of Maurizio - who finds herself subject to the jealousies of the Princess even as she helps her escape. The Prince’s love of alchemy proves the undoing of the titular heroine, as his wife uses his stock of poisons to bring a premature end to her rival with a fatal gift - a nosegay of violets.
hi gamers i am pulling an all-nighter to write an 8 page opera paper. but ive written 1 paragraph since 8pm (it's 1:30am) and instead i have made a shitty gif of 1954 cesare siepi don giovanni doing a gay little jog with his cheeks out. so i hope you enjoy goodnight
