Brian Mulroney: the opera, coming soon

Fans, foes and frenemies of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney can look forward to the words “Progressive Conservative Party” and “Charlottetown Accord” sung in a glorious libretto, as the life of one of our most infamous prime ministers is given the operatic treatment.

Jessica Daniel is a producer of the new opera, tentatively titled Politics Is Cruel: An Opera, and the production is being filmed by director Larry Weinstein. Daniel claims it takes no particular political stance and is being treated as a comedy. She says Mulroney’s long career is rife with drama and potential laughs, and that the opera is aimed specifically at a Canadian audience familiar with Mulroney’s successes, gaffes and many controversies.

The filmed opera will screen as a part of The Met: Live in HD series, which airs Metropolitan Opera productions at Cineplex theatres across North America.

Contemporary themes are all the rage this season among Canada’s major opera companies. The Canadian Opera Company will stage Nixon in China this February, and the Vancouver Opera is currently performing Lillian Alling, an opera based on the true story of a woman who tried to walk from New York to Russia.

Mulroney’s operatic life story is expected to air in theatres this spring, and though there’s no word yet on who will play 1984’s Newsmaker of the Year, you can bet he’ll have a prominent jaw line.

• Politics is Cruel: An Opera plans to centre on the life and times of Brian Mulroney [National Post]

(Images: Brian Mulroney from Memoir cover, opera stage by Dalbera.)