REPO! The Genetic Opera - Sunday 11/23

[Ghoulish Delight]

http://www.repo-opera.com/flash_home.html

This movie opens next Friday. I'm thrilled. And not just because it marks Paris Hilton's feature film debut!

CP and I have seen this rock opera from nearly its birth as a one act, two man bit in local dive bars. My cousin, who dated cowriter Terrance Zdunich (who's also appearing in the film), actually originated the female lead role (which is not Paris Hilton's role) once they turned it into a full stage production.

We loved the show from the beginning and in our minds we certainly thought it would make a great movie. But I can't believe it's actually happening!

I have no idea how well it'll transfer, how good the acting will be, how limited they were by budget, etc., etc. But there's no way I'm missing this!

[Isaac]

This movie opens next Friday. I'm thrilled. And not just because it marks Paris Hilton's feature film debut!
It doesn't.
She was in House Of Wax, Pledge This, and The Hottie & The Nottie.

[Tom]

IMDB shows her as having appeared in ten feature films, going back to 1993.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Okay Paris Hilton's feature film I actually give two craps about debut!

[innerSpaceman]

So are we having a group outting? I've been looking forward to this!

[Ghoulish Delight]

I'll have to check the calendar to see when we're free. But we better decide quick, I imagine it won't be in theaters long.

[innerSpaceman]

Hahaha, what makes you say that?

[Alex]

Well, it is playing enough that they are doing a press screening up here in the Bay Area.

I'm not going, but I did get the invite.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Depending on when, I'd be in for a screening...

[Gn2Dlnd]

Pasadena or Hollywood? Pasadena has a lot more great restaurants within walking distance and lots of municipal parking, The Sunset 5 in Hollywood (Crescent Heights and Sunset) is built on top of a parking lot, but walking distance restaurants are seriously limited.

Do I bring rice?

[flippyshark]

Wow, what a cast. Anthony Stewart Head, Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman - I am so psyched. The music clips from the site sound fanatastic, and I'm likely to purchase the soundtrack form iTunes just about any minute now. Alas, I doubt Orlando will be the site of any screenings, but the DVD won't be far behind.

Have I mentioned I'm a sucker for rock operas?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Ack! By this weekend it will already be down to ONE theater in LA, the Sunset 5.

So, Sunday, 4:30pm,
Laemmle's Sunset 5
8000 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, 90046
http://www.laemmle.com/viewtheatre.php?date=11232008&thid=2

It's a shortish film at 97 min, so plenty of time for food and drinks afterwards. Who's with us?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I was worried we'd miss it! Hope others can make it. :)

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I will try, but medical issues may keep me from attending. :(

[Lance]

I've been keeping tabs on the movie for about a year, sounds like it'll be a great movie by the flip clips and music alone. I really want to go see it, but unfortunately I am going to be working that evening :(

Oh well, have a good time everyone!

[Snowflake]

I can't stand Sarah Brightman. :blush:

[Ghoulish Delight]

If it turns out people can't do Sunday, we're willing to switch to Saturday, but it'll have to be the late show (10:00PM) as CP works until 6.

[innerSpaceman]

NO NO NOT SATURDAY, PLEASE!


Just yesterday I was wondering what happened to our viewing, and now my curiosity has been answered. I want to Go ... but can only do so if the plan sticks to the original Sunday screening.

I have (my last?) straight wedding on Saturday, preceded by rehearsals for my docent turn at the El Mio House the following weekend (affordable tickets still available).


So if we stick to Sunday, I'm in. :D

[LSPoorEeyorick]

I'd really like to, but this weekend is Thanksgiving prep (well, actually, this weekend through Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving prep.) I'll see how much I can get done and if tickets are available at the screening we'll try and join.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Sunday remains the plan of record, however the 10PM showing on Saturday is starting to look vaguely more attractive to me. We'll see.

[Not Afraid]

I'm not sure I could stomach Brightman in ANYTHING. I saw a picture of her in this role and almost threw up.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Unless the scripts has changed significantly since we last saw it on stage, Brightman's character isn't a particularly huge role.

[innerSpaceman]

Sigh, I guess I'll have to wait (what, 2 days?) for the DVD release if you choose Saturday Night.


Kinda ironic considering I'm gonna be skipping all future straight weddings, but this one got in just under the wire. :D

[Ghoulish Delight]

OK, I'm done thinking outloud in here.

Sunday. 4:30. Anyone have good dinner suggestions in the area?

[Not Afraid]

We're going to an art walk tomorrow so we probably won't be there.

[lashbear]

Stoat & I won't be there... we have to wash our hair. :p

...and I liked Brightman in Tell Me On A Sunday.. but that's about it.

[innerSpaceman]

Gonna try and make it.


Even if my hair is dirty.

[innerSpaceman]

oh, but I should add ... The Sunset 5 is in a restaurant Dead Zone. The massive Virgin Megastore moved out more than a year ago, and I'm surprised the theater hasn't gone out of business.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

We're still trying our best to make it. Baking still underway...

[Ghoulish Delight]

oh, but I should add ... The Sunset 5 is in a restaurant Dead Zone. The massive Virgin Megastore moved out more than a year ago, and I'm surprised the theater hasn't gone out of business.
Since it's a 4:30 showing that will be over around 6, we were thinking we'd do dinner after, so it doesn't have to be at that shopping center.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Okay, my suggestion:

Jones Cafe @ Santa Monica and Formosa (7205 Santa Monica Blvd). It's around the corner, it's a good little dive bar with basic Italian fare, and it happens to be where we had post show drinks with Terrance, one of the Repo cowriters, when we saw one of the stage productions.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oh dear.

Umm, congratulations to Terrance for getting his movie made.

I'll leave it at that.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Seeing our old friend Terrance on the big screen in the role he's been working on for well over a decade was pretty cool. There was some great costuming, and the gory bits were nicely done. Paris Hilton was a natural in a role that was basically her already.

Sadly, the rest was crap. The story was choked to death by repeated tellings, and reliance on singing everything just hurt the characters. There were some bad, miscast actors, including the lead girl, which ruined the whole film. Some of the good music from the old show still shone through here and there but was mostly covered with the new stuff, which was not good at all.

If those that saw it are interested, here's a link to the old New York show page (http://www.repoopera.com/default2.asp), and here's a trailer (http://www.repoopera.com/Repo_Trailer.wmv) of sorts of the 2002 show in LA, starring GD's cousin as Shilo. Ah, what might have been.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Being a shotwtune queen, perhaps I have a different perspective on this issue. To me, when a show tells me it's an opera, I expect it to be sung-through. I expect there to be both arias and recitative. Repo is definitely an opera in that sense. I remember hearing a complaint years ago when the movie of Evita came out. This guy on the radio actually said, "I like the story, but they kept singing!"

Repo certainly has its flaws. First and foremost is the story. Too many unanswered questions and too many convoluted plot complications. The acting was hot and cold. Paul Sorvino and Anthony Head were very good. Sarah Brightman and (yes, it pains me to say this) Paris Hilton were also very effective in their roles. I would have liked to see more (both literally and figuratively) of Terrance Zdunich as the Graverobber.

I didn't hate the film. There were many things I actually liked about it. But overall it left me very confused and unsatisfied.

[innerSpaceman]

I was surprised to hear it originated in the 90's. It reeked of 70's concept to me. Purposefully, it seemed, trying to be the new Rocky Horror Show of its age (and not just because S. Maniac complained of a too-late previous night at the Gay Themed Rocky Homo Horror Show version of his regular RHPS excursions). That the denoument finale happened in a small theater that was reminiscent of the similarly situated one in Rocky did not help.


I wanted more more more of the Graverobber. And I had no idea at the time that he was played by GD's friend Terrance, the co-writer.

I'm assured the stage version was much better. And when I found myself actually liking two or three of the the songs, it turns out those were likely the few kept from the stage show.


Other than Terrance ... the best thing about the movie was, believe it or not, Paris Hilton (runners up being her character's buff, half-naked honor guards).


The comic book sections were good, too. I was surprised to learn the project was never a comic book, but originated as a bar performance and went straight to the stage from there. Maybe there will be a revival somewhere.



Overall, though, I think I enjoyed the previews more than the movie. I'm looking forward to Special, and especially to, er, oh hell ... SM: what's the name of that film that's going to the Mormon Church's Worst Nightmare???

[Ghoulish Delight]

Being a shotwtune queen, perhaps I have a different perspective on this issue. To me, when a show tells me it's an opera, I expect it to be sung-through. I expect there to be both arias and recitative. Repo is definitely an opera in that sense.Which just reminds me...I hate opera.

But yeah, more problematic than the chosen format was the content. What was particularly weird was that the first act of the movie felt, to me, rushed and muddled as they tried to cram way too much exposition into a very short stretch of movie...but then the second and third acts dragged as nothing new was imparted to the story. It really suffered immensely from lack of good pacing and story telling, and no amount of visual artistry (and I really did like the look of the movie) or bad acting could make up for.

And they absolutely ruined the characters of Luci, Pavi, and Rotti in the rewrite. Bleh.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I was surprised to hear it originated in the 90's. It reeked of 70's concept to me.Well, the 90s is when they started performing the first couple of songs in bars. I don't know how long they'd been working on it before that. But Terrance isn't all that much older than me, so I imagine it wasn't born before the 80s.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

what's the name of that film that's going to the Mormon Church's Worst Nightmare???Were the World Mine (http://www.speakproductions.com/index2b.php)
Trailer in glorious QuickTime (http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/weretheworldmine/)
What was particularly weird was that the first act of the movie felt, to me, rushed and muddled as they tried to cram way too much exposition into a very short stretch of movie...but then the second and third acts dragged as nothing new was imparted to the story.I completely agree with you.

[innerSpaceman]

If those that saw it are interested, here's a link to the old New York show page (http://www.repoopera.com/default2.asp), and here's a trailer (http://www.repoopera.com/Repo_Trailer.wmv) of sorts of the 2002 show in LA, starring GD's cousin as Shilo. Ah, what might have been.

OMG, I could tell instantly that GD's cousin was a much more awesome Shilo. And that I would likely have enjoyed the play a thousand times more than the movie (though, um, that's faint praise, sorry).


But now i really DO want to see the Stage Version. Fine.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

OMG, I could tell instantly that GD's cousin was a much more awesome Shilo. And that I would likely have enjoyed the play a thousand times more than the movie (though, um, that's faint praise, sorry).


But now i really DO want to see the Stage Version. Fine.Just fire up the time machine.

DUDE! Found clips! Though they are both of Nathan solo songs, and there aren't any others. :(

Night Surgeon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2A7041WZcA)

Let the Monster Rise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwCqyYTQUOs)

History of the show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdqWqCOv-uI)

Here's a trivia tidbit - the best LA version that we saw was financed by Billy West (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0921942/), voice talent who is best known as Fry from Futurama.

Oh, SM, I figured out the answer to your question as to why Heather Sweet would visit the Graverobber for her fix. Her dad wasn't letting her have any more free stuff - remember the bit where she begs him?

[innerSpaceman]

oh, the History of Repo is kinda sad. Like inspirational, dream fullfillish, stage eventfulcal, movie-pushington.... and then, ah, um, ... crap.



oh well.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Her dad wasn't letting her have any more free stuff - remember the bit where she begs him?Yes, but I also remember him relenting and giving her the surgery she wanted ($70,000 worth?) which suggested to me that daddy's little girl got whatever she wanted in the end if she just pouted long enough.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yes, but I also remember him relenting and giving her the surgery she wanted ($70,000 worth?) which suggested to me that daddy's little girl got whatever she wanted in the end if she just pouted long enough.But only because the opera was that night and her last street surgery was botched, so he had little choice.

[innerSpaceman]

How can you pout without a face??

[Ghoulish Delight]

Whoa, crazy. From Wikipedia:


A very similar film has entered production named Repossession Mambo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repossession_Mambo) which shares the same basic plot. Editing of these films took place in adjacent studios. It is to be noted that Repo! The Genetic Opera was in production well before this film was announced, and had existed as a play for several years before the movie began filming.[25] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repo%21_The_Genetic_Opera#cite_note-24).
It is also interesting to note that "Repossession Mambo" is being produced by Universal Pictures, a company that had agreed to bankroll "Repo! The Genetic Opera" if Darren Lynn Bousman had agreed to remove the musical aspect of the film and approach it from a more "legitimate" angle. Bousman declined and began his personal mission of seeing "Repo! The Genetic Opera" to fruition. reference: Q&A with Darren Lynn Bousman (director) and Terrance Zdunich (co-writer and actor) held November 17, 2008 in Winter Park, FL.


So if DVD sales don't do them any good, perhaps they can live large of a plagiarism lawsuit!