The opera Billy Budd, in a not-at-all camp production, apparently starring Brian Blessed centre right...
John Amis reports:
When Benjamin Britten announced that he was going to write an all-male opera [set on board ship] we thought he was barking mad... Britten sent Michael Tippett a copy of the libretto, asking for comments.
Tippett replied saying what a good libretto Eric Crozier and E.M.Forster had written.
But he suggested that a line in act one might be misconstrued: Claggart at one point sings "Clear the decks of seamen".
Britten wrote back saying what a filthy mind Michael had.
But he cut the line.
By the author of Moby Dick...
ReplyDeleteI saw the English guitarist Adrian Legg in concert years ago and he mentioned that there was an English children's program with a character named Seaman Stains!
ReplyDelete@drizz - Yes, that was part of an amusing, but completely false, urban folk tale about the excellent (albeit worst animated cartoon in history) series, Captain Pugwash - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1XX4sCibY - indeed, it became so well-known, that the originator of that meme cluster (Victor Lewis Smith) had to appear in court and pay-out damages to the producer.
ReplyDelete