Soundtrack
“Repo! The Genetic Opera”
(Fool House Productions)
The year is 2056 and the place is Los Angeles. An organ failure epidemic has caused scientists to harvest scores of synthetic organs that are bought and sold freely on credit to those in need. Unfortunately for Los Angelians, steep credit fees often apply to these organs, causing many to be foreclosed.
The Repo Man, in this instance, doesn’t have your car towed in the middle of the night; no he comes and extracts your organ from your still living body, the result of which is generally death. If you made it this far into the review, then I should tell you that this original opera (that’s right, opera, like Madame Butterfly, Les Miserables, and all those other shows your girlfriend wants you to take her to) was performed in Hollywood this Autumn.
The soundtrack features seven songs that tell the tale of one of these genetic Repo Men and his daughter. The campiness of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is spread thickly throughout “Repo”, as are witty tonge-in-cheekisms that are good for a quick chuckle here and there. The tunes themselves are pretty straightforward, as “Repo” survives based on the strength of its originality rather than its innovative musical structures. While nothing could ever touch the UPN’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Musical” as my all-time favorite song-and-dance staple, “Repo” is worth a listen.
