Romulus Hunt: A Family Opera is singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Carly Simon

Carly Simon

Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...

's 19th album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, and 17th studio album, released in 1993

1993 in music

This is a summary of significant events in music in 1993.-January–February:*January 8 – The U.S. Postal Service issues an Elvis Presley stamp. The design was voted on in February 1992....

. The singing on this album however is done by a cast of five. Simon herself appears only at the end, singing "Voulez-Vous Danser", added as a bonus track to the album.

History

Simon was jointly commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera Association

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 and the Kennedy Center to write a contemporary opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 that would appeal to younger people. She came up with Romulus Hunt, named after its 12-year-old protagonist. It is a family opera about divorce. Romulus tries to trick his divorced, ill-matched parents into coming back together. His sidekick is an imaginary Rastafarian named Zoogy who knows enough Jamaican magic to help with the plot. Eddie, Rom's father, is an artsy type who pierces his son's nose, while his prim mother, Joanna, worries more about propriety. A triangle is created by Mica, Eddie's girlfriend, a ditsy performance artist. During the show's final minutes Eddie learns to love Rom by recalling his own father's indifference.

The album was released on Angel Records

Angel Records

Angel Records is a record label belonging to EMI. It was formed in 1953 and specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score...

.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Carly Simon.

1. "Introduction (Voulez-Vous Danser) " — 1:04
2. "Looser Arms" — 3:54
3. "Valentine Aria" — 3:11
4. "A Boy Of Twelve" — 5:47
5. "Man With Wings" — 3:49
6. "My Dance Is A Tango" — 4:38
7. "Voulez-Vous Danser" — 1:39
8. "Fond Of The Blondes" — 2:26
9. "It's My Downfall" — 4:35
10. "Incantation" — 3:22
11. "The Fight" — 5:14
12. "The Jig" — 1:25
13. "Am I Still Young?" — 3:25
14. "It's Such A Glorious Day" — :53
15. "Seduction Aria" — 2:50
16. "Romulus Hunt (The Nightmare)" — 2:30
17. "Where Am I?" — 1:29
18. "It Almost Happens On Its Own (We'll Never Leave)" — 3:07
19. "Eddie's Soliloquy" — 3:43
20. "Voulez-Vous Danser" — 1:16
21. "Voulez-Vous Danser" (Bonus Track) — 3:11