Sweeney Todd is modern grand opera.  It won Golden Globe Best Actor and Best Picture in the category musical comedy.  It is neither a musical nor a comedy.  It is grand opera.   The little old couple behind me who came expecting warbling tones and frilly dancing left in disgust.  I revelled in every note and nuance.  Forget the genius approbation on some blogs–this is the essence of opera: music, emotion, story, and spectacle. 

I know they dare not market the movie as modern opera, for that would be the kiss, or should we say cut, of death.  Who wants to see a move opera on a week night?  So they create the illusion of a dramatic musical comedy.   Afterall we all love musical comedies, don’t we?

This foray into the divide between movie/opera marketing and reality is prompted by reflections on the divide between marketing and reality that in mining is called variously a press release, a feasibility study, or an Annual Report. 

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