PrintJanuary 26, 2009
Inconvenient Truth Stranger Than Fiction
At the height of his 2007 media canonization era, I wrote a satirical column about rumors of a Broadway version of Al Gore's mankind stinks anthem -- Earth in the Balance - The Musical. So you can imagine my delight in discovering that a famed Italian opera company is actually working on a production based on his sci-fi disaster flick, An Inconvenient Truth.
Better yet, the director, William Friedkin has reportedly walked out on the La Scala production, citing "creative differences" with the script. It appears the libretto's author, J.D. McClatchy, envisioned a serious character study (really), while Friedkin's approach was more "like a Cirque du Soleil production."
Given the subject, I'm with the Exorcist director, and suggest whoever picks up the ball at least consider moving a few of my Broadway ideas to the stage in Milan, Italy. Just substitute "opera" for "play" and "stage musical":
Sheryl Crow reportedly agrees to include her duets with Al singing the stage musical's key numbers, "Your SUV is Killing Me" and "Did you See Us in our Prius?" on her upcoming album.Faster than you can say "the internal combustion engine is mankind's greatest enemy," euphoric insiders predict that the Grammy this all but assures Gore (on top of his Emmy and Tony) will deservedly put him in the rare company of such entertainment giants as Leonard Bernstein, James Earl Jones and Bette Midler.Of course, should the play be optioned by Hollywood's eco-elite - move over, Bob Fosse!And, why not?After all, can anyone really deny what a uniquely talented story-teller and showman Al Gore is?As to choreography, do you have any idea how many people he's sold on AGW by dancing around science?Now that's fancy footwork.
You're probably thinking, "He can't be serious," right?
Any less than the geniuses who conceived of this Opus Dopus to begin with?
