Skip to content

Random Connections

A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Photos
  • Resources
  • Other Voices
  • Post Archives
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Harold Hecuba Presents…

Harold Hecuba Presents…

Posted on March 5, 2007 By Tom 1 Comment on Harold Hecuba Presents…
Entertainment, Music

Tonight we started working on a concert version of Bizet’s Carmen.  It’s a Spanish tale, sung in French by an American Choir, conducted by a Russian.  It will be a real international affair with all the songs you know by heart.

Of course, I know very different words to these tunes.  My knowledge of Carmen is tainted by Season Three, Episode 72 of Gilligan’s Island.  In this episode, Broadway producer Harold Hecuba seeks refuge on the island, but the castaways try to coax him back to civilization by staging a musical version of Hamlet, sung to Bizet’s melodies.  The "Toreador Song" now becomes "Neither a borrower mor a lender be,"  and Carmens lovely aria becomes "I ask to be, or not to be.  That is the question that I ask of thee."

According to Harold Altman in describing an upcoming performance of Carmen by the Opera Company of Philadelphia, 

"The Producer" is one of those chicken-and-egg conjunctions of classical and pop cultures. The beauty of the original work made the sitcom a success, and the sitcom did what Warner Brothers’ cartoons did for classical and jazz. It made opera — often considered the stuffiest of musical forms — not only accessible, but an important part of the cultural lives of millions.

Somehow, before April 19, I’ll figure out some way to forget  the Gilligan’s Island lyrics and learn the French.  Now, if I can somehow figure out how to follow Tchizvel’s thick Russian accent…

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: Lie of the Devil
Next Post: Recent Google Earth Discoveries ❯

One thought on “Harold Hecuba Presents…”

  1. Ken C says:
    March 6, 2007 at 10:42 am

    It’s impossible to forget the Gilligan’s Island lyrics. But, in the words of the spiritual, “We shall overcome someday.”

    I continue to be amazed by the genius of people who can put Hamlet to Bizet on a Hollywood set. Or Wagner with a rabbit and a hunter in drag (or a rabbit in drag, for that matter) and get away with it. I hope that those in the future who appreciate the arts of our times give these endeavors proper credit.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • EdTech (199)
  • Entertainment (201)
  • Family (118)
  • Gear (115)
  • General Technology (97)
  • Geocaching and Maps (208)
  • History and Genealogy (253)
  • Internet (144)
  • Local (447)
  • Miscellaneous (539)
  • Music (188)
  • Paddling (239)
  • Photography (777)
  • Podcast (6)
  • Rambling (223)
  • Rants (160)
  • Recipes (34)
  • Religion (48)
  • Restaurants (165)
  • Science (48)
  • Things Overheard (29)
  • Travel (410)
  • Uncategorized (129)
  • Washington Sabbatical (113)
  • Weirdness (59)

Recent Posts

  • Paddling the Saluda River from Cooley’s Bridge
  • Germophobic Paranoia Blues and Other Dream Tunes
  • Orphaned Graveyards – Bakers Chapel AME
  • Orphaned Graveyards – Fellowship Church
  • Website Updates

Recent Comments

  • Ed calvert on The Sad Fate of Chappells
  • Ed calvert on The Sad Fate of Chappells
  • Ed calvert on The Sad Fate of Chappells
  • Ed calvert on The Sad Fate of Chappells
  • Boyce Stroud on Paddling the Saluda River from Cooley’s Bridge

Tags

blogging cemetery Christmas Columbia Edisto River edtech Entertainment family Flickr Florida Furman Furman University gear geotagging Ghost Town Ghost Towns Google Earth Google Maps GPS Greenville Greenville Chorale hiking history Instructional Technology kayaking Lake Jocassee LCU Lowcountry Unfiltered maps Music North Carolina Paddling Photography rambling restaurant Restaurants review singing social networking South Carolina time-lapse Travel video Washington Washington State
March 2021
S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
« Feb    

Copyright © 2021 Random Connections.

Theme: Oceanly by ScriptsTown