Opera Parallèle, La Belle et la Bête

This original presentation of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast blurs the distinctions between film and live opera, merging Jean Cocteau’s classic 1946 romantic fantasy story on screen with Philip Glass’ 1994 score. Glass composed the music as a new soundtrack to the film, transforming the original spoken French dialogue into sung libretto. Now Opera Parallèle has responded to the dreamlike, subconscious elements of the story with its own new film and stage direction, further blurring the barriers between the characters onscreen and the singers on stage.