You can't listen to everything you hear

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If there is one thing the post concert taught me is that opinions of any given event can differ widely. So, when reading the reviews of Daniel Cronenberg's Premier of "The Fly" it's important to remember that lesson. Even a really good show can get poor reviews. Not everyone likes the music of Howard Shore and it seems the reviewers in Paris agree on this point. And yet, everyone seems to think this show is destined to be a huge hit.

Lizzy Davies of the Guardian posted less of a review and more of an audience impression. The end applause was warm but not rapturous. One fan thought the music (of Howard Shore) was "a little heavy", another thought it was "a let-down… more of a distraction than music of an opera." If I think back to Shore's music for "The Lord of


Bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch takes to the stage in Paris for a rehearsal of Cronenberg's operatic remake of his 1986 film The Fly Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/AFP

the Rings" I am not surprised by these comments, even though his "Ring" music is lauded for its ground breaking material. Beyond the music the comments are all very positive, verging on the "must see" category in terms of a review.

According to Jorg von Uthmann's review at Bloomberg.com the Premier was a success. The only down side was a few boos for Howard Shore… hmmmm. Jorg goes on to say "In the program, he claims to belong to the late-Romantic school of Richard Wagner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Bernard Herrmann -- and his influences show. It's also obvious that his mastery of orchestral effects is vastly superior to his talent for memorable tunes, let alone soaring melodies." So, no one left the theatre humming his songs (unlike the musical "Mamma Mia" where if you leave the theatre not humming a tune, you're deaf - or immune to Abba.) But for all the luke warm rating of the music, Jorg gives the over all performance three stars.

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