FULL Mike the Headless Chicken (Elvis Herod) London 2012 Oblivian Substanshall, Phil Green, Martha Moopette, Ergo Phizmiz

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Mike the Headless Chicken  
• Composer: Herod Elvis   
• Libretto: Elvis Herod    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: London, UK  
• Recorded: August 5, 2012
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Oblivian Substanshall, Phil Green, Martha Moopette, Ergo Phizmiz, Vulnavia Vanity, Talulah Lotus, Autumn Poppy, Elvis Herod
• Conductor: Elvis Herod  
• Orchestra:
• Stage Director: Elvis Herod  
• Costume Designer: Carrie Haritou, Martha Moopette  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: tete a tete  
• Date Published: 2012  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  One day in the mid 1940s in Fruita, Colorado, a poultry farmer was flummoxed by the continued survival of a decapitated chicken. Over the next 18 months Mike the Headless Chicken became a celebrity, touring the land as a wonder of nature, until an inglorious end in an hotel room (which can hardly be called untimely, since his head had died a year and a half earlier). This new Kentucky Fried Live Action Dada Cartoon opera by Elvis Herod, presented with The Gang of Rogues (returning to the festival after last year’s controversial “The Third Policeman”), is a poultry-indigestion nightmare in garish technicolor.

  www.ergophizmiz.net/miketheheadlesschicken.html

  Genesis

  Elvis Herod brings his show to Tête à Tête after reading excessively about the true story of Mike, which inspired him to tell the tale.After performing at last year’s festival, Herod had a conversation with Bill Bankes-Jones who told Elvis that his singing voice was that of an angel. Elvis then knew that he had to show the world his incomparable, gargantuan talents… ever heard a neck sing before?

  Synopsis

  Mike The Headless Chicken is the true story of a farmer in 1940s Colorado, who was flummoxed by the continued survival of a decapitated chicken [later to become known as Mike]. Over the next 18 months Mike the Headless Chicken became a celebrity, touring the land as a wonder of nature.. During the course of Mike’s life, the farmer [Lloyd Olsen] and his wife [Clara] looked after the chicken, feeding him with an eye dropper, which was used to squirt water and seed into Mike’s neck. This device was also utilised to clear the airway of the chicken whenever he choked or became congested. After a tour of the United States Mike was worth $10,000 and gained fame from various fairs and carnivals where people would pay 20 cents to see Mike [The Wonder Chicken]. Mike even had an agent [Hope Wade], who helped Lloyd and Clara make their money.

  Finally during a visit to Phoenix, Lloyd and Clara made the mistake of misplacing the eye dropper, and Mike, in a true rock and roll style, choked to death in a motel room.

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