The opera/film presentation of La Belle et la Bête
began as the second part of my trilogy of theatre
works based on the films of Jean Cocteau.
In the first of the series, I used the scenario
from the film Orphée as the basis for the
libretto of a chamber opera. I didn’t use the
imagery of the film, allowing the staging in
operatic form to attempt a new visualization
of the libretto. But in this case the opera,
composed with the dialogue, is performed live
in conjunction with the projected film (with the
original soundtrack eliminated entirely). This
made the job of composing the music much
more complex since the words and the voices
had to be synchronized as closely as possible to
the images on the screen. The third part of the
trilogy was a dance/theatre work based on the
scenario of the film Les Enfants Terribles. In this
way the trilogy represents translation of film
into the live theatrical forms of opera (Orphée),
opera and film (La Belle et la Bête), and dance/
theatre (Les Enfants Terribles).
To realize La Belle et la Bête as a live opera/film
event has been a dauntingly complex project
and without prior experience working with live
music and film, I would not have attempted
it at all. However, since the mid-80s I have
presented a variety of projects involving live
music and film, working with music director
Michael Riesman, and sound designer Kurt
Munkacsi. Specifically, I am thinking of the films
Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi as well as the
melodrama 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, (while
not actually a film, it is based on film imagery
and technology). This preoccupation with film
has grown out of my appreciation of film as
one of the two new art forms (jazz being the
second) born in the 20th Century. In its first 100
years, the world of film has created a new kind
of literature, one that the world of live music,
experimental theatre, dance, and even opera
can draw on, just as in the past, historic novels,
plays, and poems become the basis of new
music/theatre works.
IMAGE | Jean Cocteau, La Belle et la Bête
Production still courtesy of Janus Films
FROM THE
COMPOSER