The Final Days of Kurt Cobain are Being Transformed Into an Opera

The Royal Opera House in London is converting Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s final days into an opera. The production will be based on Gus Van Sant’s 2005 film of the same name, and will be titled Last Days.

The film was partially based on Cobain’s final days, and it followed a young musician named Blake. Cobain committed suicide at the age of 27 in 1994. A description from the Royal Opera House says that the opera “plunges into the torment that created a modern myth” and that “Blake” is “haunted by objects, visitors and memories distracting him from his true purpose – self-destruction”.

Oliver Leith, the Royal Opera House’s composer-in-residence, composed the opera. It will be performed at the Linbury Theatre in October, directed by Copson and Anna Morrissey.

Leith said he was a “massive” Nirvana fan and that “the music soundtracked my teens. It’s some of the first music I learned to play on the guitar”.

“I owe a lot of how I now make music to the sound of grunge from that time – I had never really thought about where my experimental mess and repetitions had come from.”

Following its inclusion in The Batman, streams of Nirvana’s “Something In The Way” have exploded. According to MRC Data, the deep cut from Nirvana’s legendary 1991 album ‘Nevermind’ has soared on streaming platforms. The song was featured in the film twice, as well as in trailers leading up to its release.

—Silviya.Y