Gore's 'Truth' warms to opera

Climate documentary adapted for the stage

By MICHAEL DAY

Al Gore global-warming doc 'An Inconvenient Truth' is becoming an opera that will premiere at Milan's La Scala in 2011.

Al Gore's book and bigscreen warning on climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth," is being made into an opera.

Italo composer Giorgio Battistelli's interpretation will play at Milan's Scala in 2011.

Battistelli, a former artistic chief of the Arena in Verona, says his treatment of the Oscar-winning, Davis Guggenheim-directed doc will help people reflect on Gore's green message.

Artists, he said, "make you see things differently, make you see things in a new light. When we see a painting by Francis Bacon or a film of Sydney Pollack, we get a very precise idea of the problems of our century."

The opera, which Battistelli began a year ago, will form part of La Scala's contribution to national celebrations as Italy marks the 150th anni of its unification in 1861.

In operatic tradition, Battistelli said that characters rather than a narrator will be used to tell the story.

La Scala's celebrated chorus will figure prominently -- as will the character of Gore himself.

The former VP forged links with the northern Italian city, one of the most polluted in Europe, when he backed its successful bid this year to host Expo 2015 on promises of turning green.

Battistelli's previous operatic works include a 2005 interpretation of Shakespeare's "Richard III." He also wrote the music for plays including "The Embalmer" (2005) and "The Cenci" (1997), both of which premiered at London's cutting-edge Almeida Theater.

At least one New York producer was reportedly in talks last year to bring Gore himself to Broadway in some kind of limited-run, multimedia lecture presentation based on "An Inconvenient Truth," but such a staging has not materialized so far.