vignette

It presents three imagined vignettes from the composer’s life.

The scenes play out like vignettes, with cuts to black in between each one — “like mini plays,” Soderbergh says, each revealing more about the family’s emotional turmoil and the ghost itself.

Rarely will someone take those videos and stitch them into a proper vignette anymore.

For the opera, Hilton and Richie opted to chronicle their relationship throughout the years, from their childhood friendship to their prolific careers, which includes memorable vignettes of “The Simple Life.”

The work proceeds as a series of movements, one vignette succeeding the next in a way that can feel static from a dramatic standpoint.