Wednesday evening at The great Hall witnessed a seminal event in the history of opera; Operamania.  Our beloved art form; courtesy of the indefatigable Opera Revue, mashed up with pro-wrestling; in the persons of Junction City Wrestling.  What could possibly gio wrong you ask?  Well how about Mango Mussolini showing up during the Anthem to claim his 51st state?  No worries!  Danie Friesen despatched him with a whack over the head with a chair.

After that I think the two “art forms” were combined in just about any way you might imagine emceed by a sparkly (even by his standards) Greg Finney.  The regular Opera Revue crew (Danie plus Alex Hajek and Claire Elise-Harris) were joined by Queen Hezumuryango and Ryan Downey as well as two gentlemen; Freedom Wallace and The Mighty Cadman, and two ladies; Wanda Delrey and Kingsley, in skimpy, if colourful, wrestling gear.  Kingsley, it turned out late in the show, actually has a very decent singing voice too.

Carmen was an obvious place to start.  Lots of fights there.  High notes and bodies got tossed about with abandon.  Alex got some Rigoletto practice in.  Plenty of bodies there too!  Susanna (Danie) and Marcellina (Queen) challenged each other to get it on in a fairly unladylike fashion.  Rosina (Queen) conquered all at arm wrestling while singing a rather fine version of “Una voce poco fa”.

Les Mis made its mandatory OR appearance.  There was a rather good account of the quartet from Lucia with spectacular high notes from Ryan before Lucia’s solo aria (Danie) was interrupted by some strange insect creature (Alex with a bag over his head).  Meanwhile bodies flew hither and yon; under the ropes, over the ropes.  There were body slams and clothes lines and a whole lot of other really brutal looking stuff.  The girls were as brutal as the guys (if easier on the eye) and the singers mixed it up as well if not quite as scarily.  I’m actually rather in awe of the degree of control over exactly where and where not the wrestlers hit.  If international rugby players were as precise we wouldn’t be seeing all the red cards!

And how does one finish such a show?  With a mighty rumble accompanied by the “Anvil Chorus” from Trovatore of course!  The audience (i’d guess two thirds opera folk and one third wrestling types) had a fun and noisy evening and I just have a sneaking suspicion that this is not the last time we’ll see this formula.

Photo credits: Gerry Hubley @justwrestlingca