In fact, we had “shopped” Repo as a movie to various industry people over the years.
I mean, how are you gonna pull of a character with digital corneas that projects memories in a black box theatre? Plus, throughout Repo’s development I think that both Darren Smith and I were more influenced by film than theatre. As such, Repo’s libretto always read sort of like a screenplay.
AT WHAT POINT DID YOU FIRST CONSIDER A FILM VERSION? OR DID YOU HAVE IT IN MIND ALL ALONG?ĭarren Smith and I always envisioned a world for Repo that was bigger than what could be done on stage, especially considering the limited funds that we had to produce all of Repo’s stage plays. It’s been a crazy journey, this Repo project. This attracted the attention of an off-Broadway theatre company, Wings Theatre, which staged Repo in NY during the summer of 2005. Following this run, we went back to the drawing board again, and then mounted a second version of Repo’s stage play in 2004 at W. This was at Hollywood’s John Raitt Theatre.
In 2002 we felt that we were ready to rent a theatre and debut Repo as a full-length play. During this time we work-shopped the music and story, keeping what worked and cutting what didn’t. In 2001 Darren Smith and I assembled a small group of actors and musicians, and began performing Repo as 45-minute sets at clubs. One of our 10-minute operas, “The Necromerchant’s Debt” – the story of a futuristic grave-robber – is the tale that evolved into “Repo! The Genetic Opera”. As “The Gallery”, Darren was a sort of 1-man-band, playing all of the music, and I was a 1-man-theatre troupe, acting out all of the parts. We would write and play what we called 10-minute operas – short stories put to music – at rock clubs and coffee shops throughout L.A. It started in 1999 when Darren Smith, Repo’s co-writer, and I began performing as a duo called “The Gallery”. Repo! is a project that’s been in the works for almost 10 years now. CAN YOU ELABORATE A BIT ABOUT THE EARLY HISTORY OF “REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA”? Who would ever have thought that Nivek Ogre (Skinny Puppy) would appear in a musical with Sarah Brightman (star of several Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals) AND Paris Hilton? In an email interview, co-creator/ co-writer / cast member Terrance Zdunich tolds us a bit about “Repo! The Genetic Opera” and its transition from stage to screen. Based on a stage musical, the sci-fi/horror tale of a future where organs are harvested for profit has one of the most eclectic casts ever assembled. After being pushed back from an April release, the highly anticipated movie musical “Repo! The Genetic Opera” will finally be unleashed on November 7, 2008.
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