# An Inconvenient Truth: The Opera

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/451089>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 30, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/451089 "2008-05-30T00:34:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/451089/1 "2008-05-30T00:34:07Z")

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It’s hard to imagine how [this](http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90V9JD81&show_article=1) will work:

> [@](#):
>
> First it was the film and the book. Now the next stop for Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” is opera.
> 
> La Scala officials say the Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli has been commissioned to produce an opera on the international multiformat hit for the 2011 season at the Milan opera house.

I’m really at a loss here. Has there ever been a musical work based on a documentary?

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/451089/2 "2008-05-30T01:18:28Z")

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[QUOTE=ultrafilter]  
Has there ever been a musical work based on a documentary?  
[/QUOTE]  
I can’t recall one off the top of my head. An interesting topic for an opera…a statistics lecture.

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**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/451089/3 "2008-05-30T13:53:44Z")

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Statistics and shocking images of ecological devastation will probably appear as projections behind the singers.

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**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/451089/4 "2008-05-30T13:57:39Z")

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[QUOTE=ultrafilter]  
It’s hard to imagine how [this](http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90V9JD81&show_article=1) will work:  
I’m really at a loss here. Has there ever been a musical work based on a documentary?  
[/QUOTE]

It’s not opera, but there was a Tony-Award-winning musical based on ‘Grey Gardens,’ a Maysles Brothers documentary about Jackie O’s cousins, Big Edie and Little Edie Beale.

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**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/451089/5 "2008-05-30T21:05:09Z")

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[QUOTE=ultrafilter]  
It’s hard to imagine how [this](http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90V9JD81&show_article=1) will work:  
I’m really at a loss here. Has there ever been a musical work based on a documentary?  
[/QUOTE]

Not exactly in the same boat, but there is Aaron Copland’s _Lincoln Portrait_.

Does the Jerry Springer opera count?