Can Sex Sell the Classics?

Maybe a baroque-style oratorio about a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly can.

Click here for www.mackrisvoreilly.com. The premier performances are in January in Seattle. Tickets are for sale online. The composer is Igor Keller.

On the website you can read the libretto which is apparently taken directly from the legal documents - starting with "the complaint", ending with "the settlement". A neat dramatic structure.


To get the flavor imagine this little quote from #16 Recitative set to music:

When Plaintiff responded that she never engaged in phone sex, Defendant Bill O'Reilly professed disbelief, and told her that the sexual stories he told were all based upon his own experiences, such as when he received a massage in a cabana in Bali and the little short brown woman asked to see his penis and was amazed.

Arguments abound on how to increase paying attendance at concerts. Click here for a WSJ summary of one interesting study. The same solutions seem to be tried over and over to little effect. Maybe they should investigate increasing the number of sexual references in concerts. Just imagine a rating system and parental warnings for orchestras.

Do you expect a more wholesome use of the penis in the arts? Click here for a video about a man called Pricasso who paints portraits with his. (The video is an entendre-soaked Reuters news story. Consider yourself warned - especially if your male children think finger painting is for little kids.)

Tugging: Sex. . . Bill O'Reilly. . . Sexual Harassment Lawsuit. . . penis. . . opera. . .Classical Music. . . Concert Tickets . . . Igor Keller