Casting a Marx Brothers Opera?

Suppose one were to compose an opera based on a Marx Brothers Opera, say Duck Soup or Horse Feathers? Which present day opera singers would you cast in the role of Groucho, Chico and Zeppo? What about Harpo? How about the Thelma Todd and Margaret Dumont parts?

Jarl Sigurd

to listen to a piano concerto composed by Jarl Sigurd visit: http://www.mp3.com/JarlSigurd

I once heard Harpo singing a vocal arangement of john Cages 4'33' - what a magnificent voice!

First you have to cast Groucho. You need somebody who will delight some people yet annoy others with his omnipresent. He should be pompous but also able to take an insult now and then. He should have a crooked, leering smile. But most of all, he's the smartest of the bunch, with lots of lucrative deals here and there: PLACIDO DOMINGO

Chico's next up. He gets by almost entirely on his charm, and despite his inability to read music is able to wow the audiences anyway. He's the worst ladies' man of the lot, and has the lousy track record to show for it. He's always getting into some sort of trouble over money. And when he speaks English, it's with a dumb Italian accent: LUCIANO PAVAROTTI

Then there's Harpo. He can be both silly and heartbreaking, almost as good a musician as Groucho, but no voice: JOSE CARRERAS.

Last is Zeppo, who is way outclassed by all the others, and is better left to working on their contracts: ANDREA BOCELLI.

not Opera singers, necessarily, but...

Groucho: Peter Daniels

Chico: Jarl Sigurd

Harpo: Margaret Mikulska

Zeppo: Ken B Lane

Margaret Dumont: jbayer34

Thelma Todd: Top Catt

I'd be happy to conduct the orchestra in A Night At The Opera.

says...

I'm Thelma Todd? Rrrowwrrr... But I don't think I'd want to have the required operation!

I wouldn't want to be in any cast that would have me as a memeber.

Imagine making something worthwhile from a thread started by J*rl S*g*rd

That's easy for you to say! 'MemEber', that is.

Sadly reading the answers that were submitted to your post, nobody took your original seriously. So, I'm going to take a stab.

My guess is that you'd have to cast unknowns from across the' country to get the looks, physicality and diction to do the script justice. Now, perhaps the physical look isn't the most important because we are now dealing with a public that maybe only 10% have even seen a Marx brother movie.

If you can get a video of the musical *A Day In Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine* do so. It is based on the premise that the Marx brothers are trying to put together a film in the first act called 'A Night In The Ukraine' and the second act is the imaginary film. Just so you can see how someone else dealt with some of the problems you are facing.

Get people who can act and sing, and forget about big name Italians.

Bob McCauley

In article

missing the point that the marx brother's used the physical as tangental to their verbal exchanges. little jokes. how would you opera'ate 'three cheers for captain spaulding!' with harpo bringing three 'chairs' onstage? eight harpo's running around as a ballet? surreal. or, how about, 'get yur tootsie-frootsy' from day at the races? what kind of music structure would be able to control the quick repartee while fugue- agating the contrasting styles of groucho and chico? or how about the bridge game from animal crackers? that seems like it ought to play as a quartet... 'what ARE you doing? get your leg...' maybe an opera on harpo? or, a better, as a (modern) blobway show... 'Cads'. meeow.

and the opera lyric has to be really broadly drawn. you have to mention just enough concept words: 'love', 'vendetta', 'mortgage', to keep the audience's attention without confusing them. look at the trouble Puccini had.

but, hey, there's an opera spoof in 'The Coconuts'; a precedent: the 'i want my shirt' solo?it's not that funny. it's a re-lyric of carman's habanera (this was before carmine miranda or carmel corn, so what can you expect?)

now, the harpo thing, that's maybe a little more interesting... harpo sings about how he always has to stay with the show... maybe give him a bass drum to bang on while he harps and sings 'Vesta la hudson'?

for the marx brothers, or even the ritz brothers, maybe you should remember George Kaufman's, 'hold it a minute, i think i just heard one of my own lines!'. a true marx-brothers style opera: tin, pan, and bowling alley... that would even fluster john cage.

but, 'phantom of the horsefeathers'? ...doesn't sound boxoffice.

Don't even try. It's impossible