Another Brick in the Wall: L’Opéra, the latest incarnation of the famous Pink Floyd album The Wall, had its world premiere in Montréal on 11 March. Developed by Opera de Montréal it features a libretto from Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, a new score from Julien Bilodeau and stage direction from Dominic Champagne.
The opera tells the story of a jaded rock star who decides to revaluate his whole life. In this regard Another Brick in the Wall is similar to the Pink Floyd album, though the original story is expanded on and fleshed out. However, Bilodeau’s score is almost entirely new, with only a few songs retaining their original melodies.
Said Waters in an interview with Montreal Gazette: ‘Normally when people take rock music and produce symphonic versions of it, they stick slavishly to the melodies and it’s awful. Julien Bilodeau has nodded gracefully at the work that I did musically all those years ago, but he’s transported it into a completely different oeuvre.’
Rogers first came up with the idea for the 1977 album after a difficult gig in Montréal, where he spat in the face of an audience member. His guilt over the incident led him to create the album and subsequent live show where a wall would literally be built between the band and the audience. It was also made into a 1982 feature film starring Bob Geldof.