Review of Repo! The Genetic Opera
A Show of Many Subcultures
Feb 20, 2009 Elisabeth Sharber
Repo! The Genetic Opera lends itself to a large fan base due to a music and production style that encompasses many genres. Named an "industrial punk cabaret" by its marketers, the opera succeeds at gaining the interest of both rockers and opera lovers--ideally, both, such as Nightwish and Apocalyptica fans. The cast brags the renowned vocal talents of Sarah Brightman and also introduces new musical stars into the light, such as Paris Hilton, Alexa Vega, and the heart-throb “Graverobber,” Terrance Zdunich.
Goth Style
The set and design are laced with the corset strings of industrial goth. Most of the characters sport heavy eyeliner, and the costumes include nurse fetish, gothic lolita, pleather miniskirts, fish nets, trench coats, and surgical equipment for the man who repossesses unpaid-for organs.
Bizarre, Bloody, Uplifting Story
The twisted plot merges the ridiculous, the violent, and eventually the heartwarming. The film opens with a graphic novel giving the background story for the action to follow: an epidemic of organ failures leads to the emersion of Geneco, a company that gives organ transplants. They don’t make patients pay for the operations immediately, but if the patients can’t make the payments on time, the “repo man” comes to repossess their organs right out of their bodies.
The story then zooms in on Shilo, the daughter of the repo man. She resents her late mother for having the genetics that gave her a blood disease, as well as her father who secludes her in her room to protect her from the dangers of the outside world. Angry and rebellious, she turns on her father. In the end, however, she realizes in the song “I Didn’t Know I’d Love You So Much” that she loves her father, and also realizes that she is not defined by her disease, but by who she chooses to be.
Musicality
“Zydrate Anatomy” is perhaps the song most responsible for the success and popularity of the show. The clip was released on the internet about 6 months before the airing of the show as a teaser for the fans. Sing-songy, nursery-rhymish, witty, dark, and catchy, the song explains the simple way that the addictive substance “zydrate” works while showing the desperation of scantily clad women in the streets lusting after the drug. Among these women is the seductive and drug-hungry Amber Sweet, played by Paris Hilton in high heels and pleather fetish wear.
Other musical highlights of the rock opera include Shilo’s hard punk number, “Seventeen,” a rich, clear, anxious trio between Shilo’s father, herself, and her godmother, and the excited, percussive-heavy “We Started This Op’ra S***.”
Repo! grabbed a lot of subcultures by the heartstrings when it came out in November. Members of these fashion/music-heavy scenes have found solidarity and entertainment in the show.
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