When the Smashing Pumpkins released “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” in 1995, it was doubtful that its fans — some 10 million, according to copies sold — could ever have imagined the songs featured in Chicago’s Civic Opera Building.
After all, the music, with its doses of grunge, art rock and heavy metal, was at the cutting edge of the alt-rock world and seemingly very far away from anything that could be called classical.
But time has a way of changing things. What was once avant garde is now classic.
And so, 30 years after the release debuted, it is being celebrated in “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness,” a presentation by the Lyric Opera of Chicago that manages to be at once intriguing and a little, or maybe a lot, head spinning.
This two-hour extravaganza, which opened Friday, features 18 of the original 28 selections on the album performed by five vocal soloists, including Smashing Pumpkins’ songwriter and co-founder Billy Corgan, 57 musicians of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and 40 Lyric Opera Chorus singers.
Spots of light dotting the walls and sometimes flashing into the audience give the event the slight feel of a rock concert. So does an eye-popping, high-tech rear projection by designer Greg Emetaz with a flowing mix of fantastical views of Chicago architectural landmarks, dirigibles and other vintage aircraft and cosmological elements.
Crossover or cross-genre projects like this date back decades as classical music has been fused with ragtime, jazz, blues, Broadway and, yes, rock. The successful ones show respect to each of the genres involved and come together to form something new that is fresh and substantial in its way.
Certainly, the first part of the formula was followed in this latest offering, but it is not at all clear how well this version of “Mellon Collie” stands on its own.
A big question is what to call this hybrid work. One thing is very clear: It is not opera. For one thing, there is no narrative, an operatic essential. It also has next to nothing to do with Mozart’s Requiem, an 18th-century setting of the Mass for the dead — a comparison apparently suggested by some of the creative team. But it has none of the formality of such a prescribed sacred work and next to nothing to do with the Mozartean style.
“Night of Mellon Collie” might best be characterized as a song cycle, because, yes, it does use a full orchestra and involve a choir and four classically trained singers. But in the end, there is very little that is “classical” about this work.
As odd as it might sound, this show comes closest to Broadway, especially rock-influenced contemporary Broadway, which incorporates orchestras and choruses just like this. Indeed, the take on “By Starlight,” performed here by baritone Edward Parks in full crooner mode, sounds like a song right out of a 1940s movie musical.
It is a testament to the durability and staying power of Corgan’s songs that they can be altered to such a degree and still have resonance. But the presentational style here is so far away from the original screaming guitars, heavy-duty drums and other rock trappings that it is easy to wonder if the songs haven’t lost too much of their original essence.
Some of the arrangements by Corgan and conductor/arranger James Lowe are compelling in their way, especially the wonderfully ominous and portentous instrumental with heavy brass and low strings that leads into the big hit “Bullets with Butterfly Wings.” But others are more predictable — enveloping, lush and ultimately bland.
The four guest singers — soprano Sydney Mancasola, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, tenor Dominick Valdés Chenes and Parks — are all strong. Best suited to this music are the ones that take a less “operatic” approach, especially Reams, whose organic, direct style, especially in the second-half opener, “In the Arms of Sleep,” make her a particularly good fit.
And, of course, Corgan, with his utterly inimitable singing style, is a natural in selections like “1979.” He drew the biggest of the many cheers and frequent ovations from the sold-out audience that regularly punctuated the evening.
Whatever one might think of this program, Lyric Opera leaders, especially the company’s newish general director, John Mangum, deserve credit for taking a risk and trying something fresh. Just continuing to do the same thing the company did 30 or 40 years ago isn’t going to work with 21st century audiences.
While bona fide opera, both old and new, must remain at the heart of Lyric’s mission, projects like this shake things up, bring in fresh ideas and draw audiences who might not otherwise ever come to the opera house.