When word first broke that David Cronenberg was developing a musical version of The Fly with longtime collaborator and Oscar winner Howard Shore, I thought the reports were complete bullshit. I laughed, shrugged it off, then went about my usual business.
Well, cut to a couple of years later and not only have Cronenberg and Shore been diligently developing said project, but they now have the date for the world premiere in place, as well as the subsequent dates: July 2/08 is the fateful day it makes it debut at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France, with dates following July 5, 8, 11 and 13. U.S. dates will commence Sept. 7/08 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.
The official synopsis:
“The Fly is an engrossing exploration of the physical and psychological transformation in which a brilliant scientist begins to mutate into a hybrid of man and fly after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong. Researcher Seth Brundle makes a stunning breakthrough in the field of matter transportation when he successfully teleports a living creature. Frustrated in his budding romance with a scientific journalist, and in need of a human subject, he recklessly attempts to teleport himself. An unseen fly enters the transmission booth as well, however, and Brundle soon realizes that his experiment has had “mixed” results.”
Basically, the story remains the same, which is a good thing, but now we have a ton of singing and dancing to go along with it.
Myself, I have no idea what to expect from this. I didn’t catch The Evil Dead musical, so I have no reference for comparison, but I’m still finding this one hard to swallow; however, if anyone can pull this off it would be Shore and Cronenberg. In the end, though, I’d rather see Cronenberg return to the genre and add a third and final cinematic chapter to the Brundle legacy.
Nevertheless, if you think this is something you’d like to check out click it here to head over to the official site.