![\"\"](\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/Rlpy66mee_I\/AAAAAAAAAYI\/3lBCh25zKvA\/s1600-h\/notthemessiah-a.jpg\")
<\/a>Eric Idle has been all over the Canadian media lately; he expressed his possibly-ironic outrage<\/a> over Shrek the Third<\/i> during a radio interview in Toronto, and I saw him being interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos<\/a> on TV the other day. Now The Toronto Star<\/a><\/i> has an item on Not the Messiah (He\u2019s a Very Naughty Boy)<\/a><\/i>, the oratorio based on Monty Python\u2019s Life of Brian<\/a><\/i> (1979; my comments<\/a>) which premieres in Toronto this coming Friday:<\/span><\/p>\n
The new show is going to be a work-in-progress until the lights dim at Roy Thomson Hall. And no one was going to let a member of the media see a copy of Idle\u2019s script or Du Prez\u2019s score. So we have to rely on Idle and Oundjian\u2019s descriptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Du Prez describes it best,\u201d says Idle. \u201cHe called it iPod Shuffle music. Our evening is sort of like that. It never settles in one style.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oundjian says there are musical numbers that mimic several different styles, including one song in which Idle does a Bob Dylan imitation. There is even a mock-Mozart duet. \u201cIt\u2019s very sophisticated music.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYah, the Mamas and the Papagenas,\u201d quips Idle.<\/p>\n
The story itself starts with the Life of Brian<\/i>, \u201cbut as seen through the eyes of different characters,\u201d Idle says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about getting laughs. Otherwise we could have just read the film script.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are moments of great tenderness,\u201d says Oundjian. He adds that you don\u2019t have to know anything about classical music to appreciate the show. Idle says there\u2019s no need to see the movie.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Hopefully, the music will be made available eventually for those of us who are nowhere near Toronto \u2014 via mp3, CD, even DVD.<\/p>\n
MAY 28 UPDATE: Matt Page<\/a> notes that there was another article on Idle and the oratorio in the Globe and Mail<\/a><\/i> last week.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eric Idle has been all over the Canadian media lately; he expressed his possibly-ironic outrage over Shrek the Third during a radio interview in Toronto, and I saw him being interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos on TV the other day. Now The Toronto Star has an item on Not the Messiah (He\u2019s a Very Naughty Boy), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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