‘Comet’ hits Carrboro with an operatic impact

See: 'All hail the station'

Time: 8 p.m. Saturday
Location: The Station
201 B E. Main St., Carrboro
Info: www.sr-nc.com

In the midst of a musical era that prizes The Arcade Fire over “La Traviata,” it might seem that opera has gone the way of the eight track — old-fashioned and hardly interesting to today’s listeners.

For Seamus Kenney, these notions are anything but valid. A member of Chapel Hill pop outfit SNMNMNM, the classically trained musician will bring the third preview of  his “All Hail the Comet” to Carrboro’s The Station Saturday night, melding traditional opera with a story line fit for a science fiction novel. 

“I didn’t set out like, ‘I’m going to write an opera now,’” Kenney said. “I just started writing songs and eventually came around to the idea that an opera would be the best way to tell a story.” 

“All Hail the Comet” tells the story of a scientist with the power to see a day into the future. When he discovers that a comet is headed for Earth, he goes to the government. 

The story may be elaborate, but Saturday’s show, the third preview Kenney has held at The Station, will feature a pared down performance. 

“There won’t be costumes, there won’t be lighting, there won’t be actors,” he said. 

Rachel Oehring, a former Diversions staff writer who is both a producer and performer in “All Hail the Comet,” became a part of the project after she sang in the second preview. 

“I said, ‘This is great, when are you going to finish it,’” she said. “He e-mailed me, and he was like ‘Do you want to help be my kick in the pants?’” 

Despite a genre that some may deem inaccessible, Oehring said the two previews kept the audience engaged and entertained. 

“This is definitely a chance to kind of put a twist on some of the old operas, using kind of the same tropes and the same musical style but with a much more relatable kind of plot,” she said. “It doesn’t revolve around old-timey prostitutes and somebody with tuberculosis at the end.” 

While the current manifestation features a classical sound, the show has morphed from pop-opera to a more traditional style. 

“Big choruses, just beautiful music that’s very classical music, classical sounding music,” Oehring said. “It just happens to be about robots and space and stuff.” 

Though opera at a local bar is far from conventional, Kenney’s ultimate goal is to relate a story through the right medium. 

“I’m not trying to bring opera back, that’s not my mission,” he said. “I have a story and I think it’s a really good story, and for me it would be really cool to see singers and musicians perform this story.”

 

Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.