The Marx Brothers at the Opera

Let me hasten to add that at its best opera can be glorious entertainment and includes some of the most beautiful music ever written. Long live opera - and the Marx Brothers! 

As opera companies everywhere are opening their seasons it is an appropriate time to be reminded that opera shouldn't take itself too seriously. Many operas and especially opera productions, are basically ridiculous. The Marx Brothers loved to make fun of everything but in opera it was almost too easy. Their film "A Night at the Opera" remains a classic. It would be hard to sit through a performance of "Il Trovatore" again with a straight face.

Paul E. Robinson