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Hello from 'The Other Side': 'Opera from the Crypt' pays homage to 'Tales of the Crypt' comics from the 1950s
Gonzo Opera returns with 鈥淥peras from the Crypt: The Other Side of the Veil.鈥 Gonzo Opera ceased performances as a result of the pandemic. It is coming back with its format of serious classical music set to silly subject matters. 鈥淭he Other Side of the Veil鈥 will have shows Thursday, Oct. 31, Friday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 3, at FUSION | The Cell.
Hello from 'The Other Side': 'Opera from the Crypt' pays homage to 'Tales of the Crypt' comics from the 1950s
鈥淕onzo Opera is genuine opera but using wild and crazy characters and plots one would never expect to find in traditional opera,鈥 said Daniel Steven Crafts, the opera鈥檚 composer. 鈥淭he first Gonzo was 鈥楾oo Much Coffee Man鈥 based on the comic book character by Shannon Wheeler. It premiered in Portland, (Oregon), in 2006 and was to everyone鈥檚 surprise a huge success, as no one knew what to expect. We then took it down to Comic-Con in San Diego, where it was also a hit. Folks kept telling us essentially, 鈥業 thought I hated opera, but this is great.鈥欌 鈥淥peras from the Crypt: The Other Side of the Veil鈥 is based on 鈥淭ales from the Crypt鈥 comics from the 1950s. 鈥淚t鈥檚 simultaneously creepy and funny 鈥 and above all, great fun,鈥 Crafts said. 鈥淭he libretto is by Jonathan David Dixon, who is also the stage director and set designer.鈥 The performance features Thomas Griego as Grave Robber, Thomas Munro as Erik Ingels, Esther Moses as Marie, Megan Snow on clarinet, Ronald Thurman on bassoon and Scott Jacobsen on keyboard. Dan Haik serves as music director for the production. 鈥淭here鈥檚 three singers and three instrumentalists and the three singers are local opera singers who are very good and also the instrumentalists,鈥 Crafts said. 鈥淢ost of them play with either The Santa Fe Symphony or the New Mexico Philharmonic. It is so much fun. That鈥檚 always been the case with Gonzo Opera. It is so much fun for us to put it together, and then the audience has a great time too.鈥 Crafts said you do not have to love opera to enjoy the production. 鈥淓verybody of all ages would enjoy it just because there鈥檚 lots of funny things that go on and creepy things too,鈥 he explained. 鈥淚f you love opera, that鈥檚 great. If you hate opera, it doesn鈥檛 really matter, because you鈥檒l get caught up in the story.鈥 The Grave Robber is the master of ceremonies of the whole thing, Crafts said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a very mischievous character, and of course, as the name implies, he goes around digging up graves and finding skulls,鈥 Crafts added. 鈥淎nd then he tells us something about the skulls that he finds. And then one of them, he tells us the whole story, and that鈥檚 the opera. He digs up the skull of the composer, Eric Ingels. And then we see the whole story unfold.鈥