An Opera and a Musical Revive interest in Buddhism

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/americanbuddhist/2013/05/an-opera-and-a-musical-revive-interest-in-buddhism.html

An Opera and a Musical Revive interest in Buddhism

 May 18, 2013 By Justin Whitaker

If you happened to be in Berkeley, CA between February 6 and March 10, you might have caught “The Fourth Messenger” a musical animated by the questions: What if the Buddha were a woman? What if she were alive today?

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If you missed that run, but happen to be near Cardiff, Wales (as I happen to be) or Birmingham, England, there is another show headed your way: Wagner Dream (wiki).
This one takes on a somewhat darker theme, that of an unfinished Buddhist opera by the great composer Richard Wagner himself. In the story, “Wagner is dying in Venice. He will leave behind some of Western art’s greatest works. But he hasn’t finished his life’s work; he is tormented by his need to write a music drama about the Buddha.”

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