An opera starring Richard Seed, Richard Seed, Richard Seed, Richard Seed, and Richard Seed debuted to a packed house at the 1999 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony on September 30, 1999, at the Sanders Theatre of Harvard University. A farce it may be, but it represents a very rare example of the operatic arts applied to a subject of science.

Why has classic science so rarely inspired classical opera? At the end of of the last century, when classic opera flowered, the newly published Origin of Species (1859) was generating tremendous controversy - but leaving the composers and librettists of the time unmoved. On the rare occasions when a plot required a life scientist, it presented nonentities or fools such as a nameless and powerless physician in Puccini's La Boheme (1896) or the foolish and drunken Dr. Caius in Verdi's Falstaff (1893).

Life science has inspired serious films such as Gattaca, books, and works of visual arts, not to mention countless plots in comic books, and scores of submissions to HMS Beagle's Fiction section. But there is still no grand opera of biology.

There is, however, a less serious small operetta. Loosely built around the plans of Richard Seed to clone himself, The Seedy Opera premiered at the 1999 IgNobel Prize ceremony (which honors advances in research that could not, or should not, be repeated). The tradition of fools in scientists' clothing continues.

First brought to the Web by HMS Beagle, the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony was featured on the Friday, November 26, edition of the popular radio program Science Friday on U.S. National Public Radio. For the occasion, we compiled the acts of The Seedy Opera in sequence, which can be viewed (and read) here without interruption.

Click here to see The Seedy Opera on Science Friday's Web site.

Synopsis

Act I: The lonely but brilliant shepherd Richard Seed laments his isolation and solitude. He makes an astounding discovery: how to clone sheep. He proceeds, in good scientific fashion, to make himself the first subject in the first human trial of the method. [Music: "O Sole Mio."]

Act II: Richard's mother celebrates her son's achievement, and brags that no other mother has so many perfect sons exactly like him. Exhausted, Richard sleeps. [Music: "Ombra Leggiera" from Meyerbeer's Dinorah.]

Act III: A young maiden in faraway New Zealand has learned that in Chicago there are some identical and therefore very valuable sheep. They decided to steal the sheep, get rich, and then find themselves some lovers. [Music: "Viens, Mallika" from Delibes' Lakme.]

Act IV: The five maidens journey to Chicago, meet the many Richard Seeds, and fall in love [Music: selections from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.]