How Bugs Bunny and ‘Kill the Wabbit’ Inspired a Generation of Opera Stars

The cast and crew of the Washington National Opera’s Wagner Ring cycle we call the influence of ‘What’s Opera, Doc?,’ the Warner Bros. romp through the musical canon

 

Many of the people involved in the Washington National Opera’s production of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle say their first exposure to opera came from the same source—Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd cartoons. Photo: Warner Bros./Everett Collection

By Michael M. Phillips

Long before she became an opera star, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop believed that Brünnhilde, the heroine in Richard Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung,” was actually named Bwünnhilde.   Only years later did she realize she thought so because Elmer Fudd can’t pronounce his R’s.   Like many other singers and crew staging the 17-hour, four-opera Wagner extravaganza at the Kennedy Center, Ms. Bishop got her first taste of opera from a cartoon rabbit and his speech-impaired nemesis.

“I could sing you the entire cartoon before I knew what opera really was,” says Ms. Bishop, who performs the part of Fricka, wife of Wotan, king of the gods.....To Read More.....