Tonya and Nancy, The Opera

I heard about this a couple of months ago, but it looks like it's finally come true. Someone is staging an Opera written about the figure skating rivalry of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.


Who doesn't remember the "Why? Why?" terror of the whacked knee?




Who doesn't remember the "will they or won't they get in a fistfight?" drama of shared practice ice in Lillehammer?


And, of course, who could possibly forget the broken lace?



Based on this article in the Washington Post, it's clear that the Opera is not played strictly for laughs, but is much darker. Click on the link; it's got some very choice quotes from the libretto. I have to admit that if this was showing in DC instead of Massachusetts I'd be standing in line for tickets. Who didn't pick a side in this drama? It had so many great elements, the class-warfare angle of poor Tonya who grew up training at a rink in a mall while Nancy had professional coaches. There were fantastic character names: Jeff Gilooly? You can't make that up! There was violence, there was disability (Nancy's blind mother), there was a sex tape, there was a tragic fall from grace. Really, it's shocking it took this long for someone to turn this into an opera!