At the beginning of September, Billy Corgan, the mastermind of the Smashing Pumpkins, will present two evenings in Paris (Salle Pleyel) an orchestral version of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Madness, the album that changed everything for him. He makes the presentations himself…
Billy Corgan will be in concert at Salle Pleyel (Paris) on September 8 and 9. Places are available.
Is this idea of a classic adaptation around Mellon Collie something you've had in mind for a long time?
Not as such. There had been discussions over time about an adaptation into a Broadway show but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that Mellon Collie… would find its way to the stage of an opera. We started considering things about a year ago, it came to fruition quite quickly, whereas this type of project usually takes three or four years to see the light of day.
To what extent did what you did with the album Atom: A Rock Opera in Three Acts convince you that you had a good idea? Was there a link between the two albums, at least in my mind?
In fact, between Mellon Collie… in 1995, Machina in 2000 and Atum I don't really know when (2023, nda), the stories connect between them. Besides, one of my other dreams would be to be able to bring Machina on stage, then Atum without a second part. We started discussing it there too. For now, of course, the priority is these shows, but when we finish in two years, I would really like to exploit the idea of a real opera around Mellon Collie and not just an adaptation.
Last November, during performances in Chicago, you were surrounded by four operatic voices. Will you keep the same arrangements for the European part of the tour?
Yes, the four soloists will be there, and I am delighted. They are incredibly talented, but also magnificent people.
How intimidating was it to share vocal parts with them, you, the absolute classical music enthusiast?
Very intimidating! But they were totally supportive, answering all my questions, giving me advice. This way of welcoming me with open arms surprised me, in a good sense of the word obviously. The world of classical music, that of opera, has the reputation of being quite closed, even stuffy, and I discovered quite the opposite, with very relaxed people who only had in mind making the show shine as a team. It was this attitude and this support that made me want to continue with them and which remains my best memory of this production at the Lyric Opera House in Chicago.
But how exactly did the five of you divide up the vocal parts?
I left it in the hands of James (Lowe), the conductor. This is also how I presented things to him: “It’s your area of expertise, it’s up to you to decide who you think is the most suitable voice with a given song, on which they will be the most comfortable and will be able to push it the best”. He explained to me at each stage what he wanted to aim for and all his choices were incredible.
Do you consider this project as an adaptation of Mellon Collie…, a rebirth or a rendering, as it was presented? What would be your favorite word to define it?
I like the term restitution because I see it as a different kind of film. In any case, it's a different edit of the film. And having written these songs, having produced them, recorded them and performed on stage for years, I was surprised by so many different emotions that they could convey in this particular context of an opera hall.
Did you try adaptations of certain songs from the album which ended up not working and were abandoned?
No, and again, all the credit goes to James. Everything he touched, he transformed. And I believe that this is reflected in the success of the final result. Each of his choices, once again, proved right. The fact that he had been a fan of the album when it came out obviously helped, it was all very familiar to him. I think it helped him a lot to understand how to translate what he felt at the time without trying to reproduce the ferocity of the group at the time.
The order of the songs on the album is not respected in the show, nor indirectly which made it part day and part night. Was this something you decided to avoid from the start?
We didn't think like that. The idea was to choose the songs that would follow the best order for the show. We could also talk about a show in the form of a songbook in a certain way, just songs assembled together. The show incorporates some video, but it is not an opera without the sense of a story that unfolds and follows one another. So I was less focused on this notion of the order of the songs.
The presentation of the show talks about a “bringing tears” version of “Tonight, Tonight”. Why on earth would you want to make the audience cry to the point of playing this same song twice in the evening?
(Laughs) For me, “Tonight, Tonight” is a theme in itself. And if you know the original vinyl version of Mellon Collie…, it appears twice, just like the original theme and that of the title song. And as for making people cry, as they say around here, grief is a family affair (laughs).
Mellon Collie… is it still the Smashing Pumpkins album you feel closest to today?
No not at all. It is common knowledge that I work very hard on all albums, and very often by myself, in marked isolation. So, and this might be a misnomer, but when you've given birth to all these albums, they tend to blend together, blur together in your mind, and build a bigger picture. Like chapters of your life, really.
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