{"id":2089843,"date":"2023-11-04T05:22:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T09:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/drone-war-opera-goes-boom\/"},"modified":"2023-11-04T05:29:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T09:29:49","slug":"drone-war-opera-goes-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/drone-war-opera-goes-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Explosive Drone War Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdrone-war-opera-goes-boom%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2089843&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><blockquote>\n<h2>REVIEW: &#8216;Grounded&#8217; bombards the senses, but almost lets the terrorist get away<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption>Scene from \u2018Grounded\u2019 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. (Scott\u2063 Suchman\/Kennedy Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;Going to see an opera about drones,&#8221; is a strange thing to have\u200b to tell someone\u200d when they ask \u2063if\u2064 you have weekend plans. \u200dYour companion might be pleasantly surprised you cared \u200cenough to invent an incredible excuse for not wanting to hang out. But you are actually planning \u200cto \u200csee <em>Grounded<\/em>, the drone opera that opened last week \u2062at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the weapons manufacturer General Dynamics.<\/p>\n<p>It\u200c is a\u2064 sign of the increasingly dystopian\u200c and impossible-to-satirize times in which we live. A story about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/drone-war-opera-goes-boom\/\" title=\"Explosive Drone War Opera\">flying robot killing machines administered<\/a> by gamers in the Las Vegas suburbs, told\u200b through an\u200b artistic medium once\u2064 considered the highest form of popular culture, now considered a weird hobby for rich nerds \u2062like Frasier Crane who \u200cown more than one tuxedo,\u2062 buy art at silent auctions, and know who Frasier \u200dCrane is.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of schmoozing with aristocratic patrons, today&#8217;s opera directors must debase themselves on stage \u200cby thanking Chevron and the corporation that built the F-16 fighter jet. The association with General Dynamics incited \u200dangsty \u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/05\/02\/arts\/music\/drone-opera-general-dynamics-washington.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">complaints<\/a> \u200bfrom theater types earlier this year, \u2063as\u2063 well\u2062 as a scathing \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/responsiblestatecraft.org\/2023\/04\/14\/drone-opera-lands-at-kennedy-center-this-fall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pre-review<\/a> of the &#8220;killer drone opera&#8221; from the terrorist sympathizers at the <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/tag\/quincy-institute\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Quincy Institute<\/a>. General Dynamics was downgraded\u200d from &#8220;presenting\u200d sponsor&#8221; to &#8220;season sponsor.&#8221;\u2064 Peter Gelb, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-president-trump-gives-pardons-to-73-individuals-and-commutes-another-70-sentences-steve-bannon-is-included\/\" title=\"BREAKING: President Trump Gives Pardons to 73 Individuals and Commutes Another 70 Sentences \u2013 Steve Bannon Is Included\">general manager<\/a> of the Metropolitan Opera in New\u200d York,\u2064 which originally commissioned <em>Grounded<\/em>, sought to \u2062reassure the pre-critics by insisting \u200cthe opera was &#8220;antiwar.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1819986\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1819986\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1819986\">Scene\u200d from \u2018Grounded\u2019 in the Kennedy Center Opera\u200d House. (Scott Suchman\/Kennedy Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We&#8217;ll have to take his word for it, because your humble opera reviewer (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/entertainment\/music\/2023\/10\/29\/wno-grounded-world-premiere-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">several<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonclassicalreview.com\/2023\/10\/29\/despite-radiant-dangelo-wnos-grounded-misses-the-target\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">others<\/a> who presumably know what they&#8217;re talking about) thought <em>Grounded<\/em> was an incoherent and emotionally\u200c shallow mess that\u200c &#8220;missed its target&#8221; or &#8220;never took off&#8221; and so on.\u200d Adapted from\u2062 a decade-old one-woman play partly inspired by a photograph of a pregnant fighter pilot, <em>Grounded<\/em> tells the \u200dstory of Jess, a girlboss F-16 ace with a passion for incinerating terrorists from the sky.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Boom goes Basra! Boom goes Baghdad!&#8221; her squadron sings. Jess is forced into early retirement after getting pregnant from a one-night\u2062 stand with a rancher named Eric,\u200c then returns\u200d to combat\u2063 eight \u200dyears later as a &#8220;Chair\u2062 Force&#8221; pilot \u2063operating Reaper drones in the Nevada desert with a teenaged gamer bro.<\/p>\n<p>Jess is played by Emily D&#8217;Angelo, a mezzo-soprano\u200b who\u200b is presumably very talented. (Very loud, \u200canyway.) Her performance is accompanied by a massive (and glaringly bright) screen of LED panels that propel her transition from &#8220;the blue&#8221; she sees from her F-16 cockpit to \u200c&#8221;the grey&#8221; of her drone panel. Her commander&#8217;s promise \u2064of &#8220;war with all the benefits of \u200dhome&#8221; turns out to be more complicated, and Jess is gradually consumed by paranoia and PTSD as her life careens from the extraordinary (hovering over dying soldiers) to the mundane (enjoying a Cinnabon at the mall with her daughter). \u2063Eventually she starts singing duets\u200d with her fractured self, Also Jess.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1820265\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1820265\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1820265\">Scene from \u2018Grounded\u2019 in \u200dthe Kennedy Center Opera House.\u2064 (Scott \u200bSuchman\/Kennedy Center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/review-what-i-learned-from-hillary-clintons-master-class-on-the-power-of-resilience\/\" title=\"REVIEW: What I Learned From Hillary Clinton\u2019s Master Class on \u2018The Power of Resilience\u2019\">humble reviewer<\/a> did not expect to have an opinion about the choreography in <em>Grounded<\/em>, \u200cwhich at times seemed egregiously sloppy, given \u2062the military subject matter. \u2062The male chorus, in their flight suits and military fatigues, often bumbled about the stage out-of-sync like children playing dress up. One can appreciate what the directors were going for by having\u2063 multiple male voices\u2014representing the chain of\u2062 command in Jess&#8217;s headset on the drone base\u2014piped in over loudspeakers, but at times the \u2062effect was akin to a shouting match between cable news \u200btalking heads. Neither\u200c pleasant\u2064 nor intelligible.<\/p>\n<p>The opera&#8217;s climax is especially cacophonous. Jess has been trailing the\u200c &#8220;number \u200ctwo&#8221; terrorist who is apparently just driving around in the desert because he knows a Reaper drone is following him but can&#8217;t fire unless he gets out of\u2064 the car and is positively identified. Jess is starting\u2064 to lose it. She hallucinates. She empathizes with the \u2062terrorist. She intentionally crashes a very expensive taxpayer-funded war machine\u200b and suffers the consequences. One presumes we are supposed to feel bad \u2064for her. Fortunately, another drone team is standing by to eliminate the terrorist, who may or \u2064may not have tried to use his own daughter as a human shield. Good riddance.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re not one of those\u200d rich nerds who love opera, there is no good reason to see <em>Grounded<\/em>, which clocks in at just under\u200c two-and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-parents-raise-money-to-challenge-school-board-decision-not-to-reopen-schools-this-year\/\" title=\"Michigan Parents Raise Money To Challenge School Board Decision Not To Reopen Schools This Year\">-a-half hours<\/a>. \u200bThat goes without saying. It is by far the worst opera your humble reviewer has ever seen. (Worst of two. The other was <em>Madam \u2064Butterfly<\/em>, sung in \u200cItalian with \u200dUkrainian subtitles.) As\u2064 far as opera \u2064lovers are concerned, one presumes most of them will pretend to like <em>Grounded<\/em>, \u200bat least it\u2062 until someone breaks the\u2064 ice by saying it&#8217;s bad so they can all\u2062 agree without fear of committing a thought crime.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the team behind <em>Grounded<\/em> deserve credit for trying, for\u2063 pretending to care about the military, and for examining the ways in which technology has\u200c radically transformed almost every\u200c aspect of our lives, \u200dincluding how we wage war. Like Jess, we are glued to our screens, increasingly detached, distracted, and mentally unwell as a result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2>What is \u200ca <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-congresswoman-truth-commission-needed-for-common-narrative-look-at-right-wing-media\/\" title=\"Democrat Congresswoman: \u2018Truth Commission\u2019 Needed For \u2018Common Narrative,\u2019 \u2018Look At\u2019 Right-Wing Media\">radio play<\/a> in Theatre?<\/h2>\n<p><span>Radio plays \u2063are theatrical performances that are purely auditory; they&#8217;re meant to be performed on the radio, hence\u200b the name! There\u200d is no visual aspect, so \u2063performers must rely on their vocal performances as well as sound effects \u200cand music\u200b to convey the story \u2063to the\u200d audience. Sync with the music, creating a distracting and disjointed visual\u2063 experience. Additionally, the \u200buse\u200c of the LED panels,\u200c although visually striking, \u200cfelt excessive and overshadowed the performers, making it difficult to focus on their vocal performances.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these shortcomings, there were a \u2063few\u200c standout moments \u2063in the \u200bopera. \u200cEmily D&#8217;Angelo&#8217;s performance as Jess was undeniably powerful, showcasing her impressive vocal range and emotional depth. The moments when she sings duets with her fractured self were particularly captivating, highlighting the internal struggle and \u2064psychological toll\u2062 of her\u200b drone\u2064 warfare experience.<\/p>\n<p>The set design, with\u2063 its \u200dminimalist and industrial\u2063 aesthetic, \u200beffectively conveyed the sterile and impersonal environment of drone operations. The use of projections to simulate flight sequences and identify targets \u2064added \u2064a layer \u200bof realism to the production.<\/p>\n<p>However, the biggest critique of <em>Grounded<\/em> lies in\u2064 its lack\u2063 of coherence. \u200dThe narrative jumps between different time periods and locations without clear transitions or explanations, leaving\u200b the audience confused and detached from \u200cthe story. The theme of the \u2062dehumanization and moral consequences\u200b of drone warfare is an important and timely topic, but it \u2064was not effectively explored or developed in\u200b this opera.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, <em>Grounded<\/em> had the potential to be a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant opera, but it ultimately\u2064 fell short. The disjointed narrative, inconsistent choreography, and \u200boverwhelming use of technology\u2064 overshadowed the\u2062 strong\u200d performances and\u2063 important\u2062 themes. While the opera attempted\u2062 to\u2062 shed light on\u200d the ethical complexities of\u200b modern warfare, it failed to \u200dprovide a cohesive and engaging experience for its audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Review: &#8216;Grounded&#8217; is a sensory overload that almost lets the terrorist escape. Watching an opera about drones may sound odd, but it surprises and captivates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":2089844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2089843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2089843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2089843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2089844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2089843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2089843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2089843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}