An Art Mash-Up

A week ago Alexis, Warren, Todd and I saw La Didone at St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO. St. Ann’s Warehouse stages a lot of experimental works, and Todd was the driving force behind us seeing this particular one. It’s the merger of the baroque opera, La Didone by Francesco Cavalli, and the Italian sci-fi b-movie titled Terrore Nello Spazio (translates as Planet of the Vampires). The pairing is both bizarre and fun. The opera is sung by classically trained artists, while the movie and shadow cast of live actors tell the story of astronauts who land on a planet filled with parasitic aliens.

For all their differences both in style and substance, there are enough parallels between the two sources to make the mash-up work.