Music Discussions

A couple of weeks ago I watched "Repo! The Genetic Opera" and felt that I should get around to reviewing this rock opera. There are spoilers ahead, so if you don’t want to know what happens, you may wish to stop reading now. Admittedly, the spoilers are rather cryptic though, and really there isn’t a whole lot to spoil anyway.

Repo is a retelling of the classic man meets woman, man loses woman but gains daughter, daughter meets god mother, man loses daughter, daughter loses god mother, father regains daughter, daughter loses father scenario. More specifically, the plot involves an evil corporation repossessing financed organs in a dystopian society. Needless to say, some of the residents seem agitated by these repossessions on the grounds that they were still using the organs. This could be seen as an analogy of the massive foreclosures happening currently. But, really, that may be reading too much into the plot.

The music is okay, and generally fits the mood of the opera, but the audience is sometimes taken out of the surreal story by additions of even more surreal elements during the songs especially when the aforementioned daughter rebels against the likewise aforementioned father. During this scene, many extras appear out of nowhere and end up in the daughter’s bedroom. There is only so far a director can go before even I start saying "hey, wait a minute" and my suspension of disbelief is suspended.

Overall, "Repo! The Genetic Opera" successfully accomplishes its artistic goal, but pales in comparison to rock operas such as "Tommy" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". The plot is well implemented, but some of the scenes actually detract rather than furthering the story. Anthony Stewart Head’s portrayal as the conflicted father and repo man is superb and is one of the few things that save the production. Nivek Ogre, through no fault of his own, as was the case with many of the other performers, had a less than stellar performance as the songs he was given mainly felt like they were afterthoughts.

In short, I would recommend watching "Repo! The Genetic Opera" as it is an interesting story and, for the most part, is implemented well. Just remember to go into it knowing that it does not live up to the hype surrounding it.