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A rock opera or rock musical is a musical production in the form of an opera or a musical in a modern rock and roll style rather than more traditional forms. It differs from conventional rock and roll albums, which often feature songs that are unrelated in plot or story with each other, but overlaps considerably with concept albums and song cycles. More recent developments include metal opera, rap opera, and hip-hopera.

Which of these categories a particular work falls into is largely defined by the intent and self-definition of the work by its creator. The formal distinction may be that the rock opera tells a coherent (if sometimes sketchy) story, often with first-person lyrics sung by characters, while a concept album or song cycle sets a mood or maintains a theme, but some albums share aspects of both of these cases. The rock musical is generally first performed as a theatrical production rather than appearing as an album, has little or no identification with a particular band and a generally stronger air of show business. Pertinent examples of rock musicals are Rent or Hair. The categories are flexible, to some degree, however, the theatrical performance material tends to specifically fall into the second category.

Early History

What appears to be the first actual experiment in rock opera - officially accepted and so baptized by all major musical press in Italy - is Then an Alley, also known as The Beat Opera, conceived and staged by Tito Schipa, Jr., composer and director, son of the tenor Tito Schipa, at the Piper Club in Rome, in May 1967. Schipa Jr. adapted 18 Bob Dylan songs to fit into a scenic background, and eventually wrote and staged at the Sistina Theater in Rome, the work Orfeo 9. This was the first original Italian rock opera and probably the first in the world to be staged, in January 1970. Orfeo 9 became a double album and a film under the musical direction of Academy Award winner Bill Conti.

The earliest example of a theatrical production that encorporated rock and pop music was Hair, a hippie-themed musical subtitled "The American Love/Rock Musical" that made its debut in late 1967. Much like Jesus Christ Superstar, the first notable rock musical after Hair, it was very controversial in its day. Jesus Christ Superstar, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice was first recorded as a concept album in 1970 and the money made from album sales was used to fund the subsequent stage production in late 1971. The musical Godspell which was written after Jesus Christ Superstar but was actually staged before it, had similar religious themes (albeit much less controversial) and pop/rock influences. Also premiering in 1971 was Mass, a musical play by well-respected composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein which featured a rock band performing rock and blues music and included lyrics written by Godspell composer Stephen Schwartz. The rock musical declined in popularity in the late 1970s and '80s but achieved a renaissance in the '90s, due in no small part to the popularity of Jonathan Larson's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent.

Rock Opera

Pete Townshend, both with and without his band The Who, is arguably the single artist most associated with the term rock opera. The earliest example of the form was seen in the track "A Quick One While He's Away" from The Who's second album, A Quick One (1966), a nine-minute suite of short songs telling the operatic story of the seduction of a young girl guide by an engine driver named Ivor (played by John Entwistle). In 1968 The Pretty Things released S.F. Sorrow, thought to be the first attempt at a single thematic concept expressed over an album's worth of songs. Less than a year later The Who returned with Tommy, the first album explicitly billed as a rock opera. Tommy remains one of the most famous rock operas, with concert, film and theatrical productions mounted over the course of three decades. The Who would later release another rock opera, Quadrophenia, also made into a film, and a mini rock-opera, Wire And Glass.

Townshend may also be the originator of the term itself. In 1966, he played a comedy tape to his friends called "Gratis Amatis". One of his friends made the comment that the odd song was "rock opera." Kit Lambert, the Who's producer, is than believed to have said "Now there's an idea!" However, the July 4, 1966 edition of "RPM Magazine (published in Toronto) notes that "Bruce Cockburn and Mr * Hawkins are working on a Rock Opera, operating on the premise that to write you need only 'something to say'."

Ten years later, Pink Floyd enjoyed similar success with their rock opera The Wall, written primarily by Roger Waters, which became the third best-selling album of all time. As with Tommy, The Wall has been staged both by Pink Floyd (1980-81) and Waters (1990) as an incredibly elaborate concert, with Waters' version taking place at the Berlin Wall. The plot was also used in an eponymous feature film, and Waters is currently adapting the story for a Broadway-style production.

Notable rock operas

For a more extensive list for rock operas see the list of rock operas.

  • The Who, Tommy (1969): The album which arguably popularized the term rock opera. Later a movie and revival as well, in a Broadway production.

  • Rush, 2112 (1976): The first half of this album is a space rock opera complete with an overture as in The Who's Tommy.

  • Edge of Sanity, Crimson (1996): Features a single 40 minute track, telling a story in the distant future when human civilization is about to end.

  • Lacrimosa, Elodia (1999): A tragic-love story divided into three acts. An album about love being slowly overwhelmed, separation, murder and a second chance.

  • Drive-By Truckers, Southern Rock Opera (2000):As its name suggests, a Southern Rock Opera. Traces the history of the south, socially, economically and musically while presenting a southern rock star and his demise purposely similar to Lynyrd Skynyrd.

  • Green Day, American Idiot (2004): The first "punk-rock opera" is a coming-of-age story revolving around teenager Jesus of Suburbia as he searches for identity in a heated political climate. This album became a quadruple platinum album. Tells the story of a boy who leaves suburbia and returns to find it isn't anything like he remembered.

  • Ayreon, The Human Equation (2004): A man experiences a car crash and enters a 20 day coma, during which he is confronted by a new memory or emotion every day, such as pain, hope, his old school days, betrayal, and love.

Notable rock musicals

For a more extensive list for rock musicals see the list of rock musicals.

These lists are not complete and do not include song cycles or concept albums that often include some of the characteristics of rock operas and/or rock musicals, or musical revues working new plots around existing songs.

See also

External links

Musical theatre | Rock operas

Opéra rock | אופרת רוק | Opera rockowa | Ópera rock | Рок-опера | Rocková opera | Rock-ooppera | Rockopera

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Rock opera".

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