This bird of an opera just won’t fly

This bird of an opera just won’t fly

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norman lebrecht

April 04, 2016

Our New York operavores, Elizabeth Frayer & Shawn E Milnes, went to the city’s premiere of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, willing it to succeed.

Trouble is, Charlie’s dead before the opera begins.

yardbird

He doesn’t want anyone to know he has died because he wants to compose one last musical masterpiece before news of his death becomes public.  Unfortunately this plot point fades away and we veer into vignettes of his life that don’t have anything to do with him writing this musical masterpiece, nor do they give much insight into his life beyond one dimensional views of drugs and women and music. 

Read on here.

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