In the only recorded case of international humiliation turning into a net positive, librettist Andrew Flack and composer Paul Fowler have written a comedic opera about the famously ruined Ecco Homo Jesus painting and its amateur “restorer†Cecilia Giménez. Ecce Homo de Borja will tell the story of the botched restoration, its subsequent explosion as a worldwide meme, and the economic boom it brought to its Spanish hometown of Borja. You can even hear a preview of the opera, set to open in 2017, which purportedly contains “a Gregorian chant, a Spanish fandango, a Renaissance motet, a jota from Zaragoza, a classical chorus, an aria from the Zarzuela, a Flamenco tango, an indie-rock hook, and a Swedish-house bass line.†No word on whether Jesus will be able to hear the opera with his hair-scarf wrapped so tightly around his potentially nonexistent ears, but don’t ask him though. It’s not your place.
