Wednesday, November 10, 2010

CHOICE WORDS

I don’t mean to be rude…
Or make fun of anyone's writing
Especially regarding Igor Stravinsky but…
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
You see, I used to write radio spots
And so I listen intently when I hear them…
And when I heard the radio spot for The Rake’s Progress
An opera by Stravinsky that will be performed in my town I…
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Sorry!
But here’s the synopsis used in the radio commercial:
A man of means is tempted by the devil…
Runs away and marries a bearded lady…
Loses all his money then commits suicide.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Sorry, but that synopsis just struck me as funny.
I then Googled The Rakes Progess and here’s a synopsis I found:
Tom Rakewell is a young ne’er-do-well whose fiance’s father does
Not approve of him because he doesn’t work. When a mysterious man,
Nick Shadow, a.k.a. the devil, arrives and tells Rakewell that he has
Inherited a fortune from an unknown uncle but must travel to London
to claim it, Rakewell is enticed into a life of gluttony and sloth for which
a day of reckoning must finally come.
See? Now this sounds like an opera…
Not a comedy.
Quite a difference
In the two writing styles
I guess the devil really is in the details.
Sorry…
Please excuse me…
I guess at this point
NaNoWriMo is making me a bit delirious…
And I’ll find anything amusing.
But then
Which synopsis would make you go see the opera?
(assuming you would ever go to an opera)


Always, Em-Musing

3 comments:

Joanne said...

Hm, same story, different write-ups. I'd go based on the second. The first would keep me away. It just goes to show you how important that dreaded synopsis really is.

Tana said...

The second! I guess the devil is in the details. ;)

Jennifer Hillier said...

I liked the first one... but I have a twisted sense of humor!