The reviews are in for Another Brick in the Wall - The Opera.
The world premiere took place Saturday at Montreal’s Place des Arts with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters in attendance.
Arthur Kaptainis of the Montreal Gazette dismissed The Wall opera as “a sullen, gloomy flop.”
Sophie Durocher of Le Journal de Montreal complained about the original songs being “massacred,” adding: “They even found a way to screw up ‘Comfortably Numb,’ one of the most beautiful songs on the album. Sacrilege!”
Rolling Stone’s Kory Grow was somewhat more impressed.
“Does The Wall, Waters' most enduring creation and one of the greatest rock operas, work without the rock? Yes and no,” he opined. “The bad news is that it is not Pink Floyd's The Wall. The good news is that it's not Pink Floyd's The Wall – and it's barely Roger Waters’.”
Grow said the show “likely won't appeal to the average classic-rock FM listener but hardcore Floydiacs were buying T-shirts and posters at near-arena prices.”
Another Brick in the Wall is a production of Opéra de Montréal and stars baritone Étienne Dupuis as Pink, soprano France Bellemare as his mother, soprano Caroline Bleau as his wife and tenor Dominic Lorange as the teacher.
Based on Waters’ lyrics and music, it was composed by Julien Bilodeau and directed by Dominic Champagne.
Montreal was the fitting beginning for The Wall opera since it was in the city where in 1977, legend has it, Waters spit in a fan’s face — an incident that inspired him to write The Wall.
“It is an unexpected honour for The Wall to be reborn as an opera as part of Montreal’s 375th Birthday celebrations,” Waters said in a message published in the program. “To be part of a cultural bridge built on music and ideas feels exactly right.”
Another Brick in the Wall stands in Montreal until March 24 and will make its U.S. debut in Cincinnati in July.