Read 4 minutes5 Jul 2026 12:11 PM IST
When Norway beat Brazil in the 1998 World Cup, writer and cartoonist R Calvo zeroed in on an iconic image from the game. In the famous frame, a very skinny Tore Andre Flo of Norway tries to break free from a stocky Brazilian junior, Byano. Flo was agape in the grainy photograph, Bayano’s eyes twinkling as he held his shirt back like a belt. The referee would award Norway a penalty giving them a historic 2-1 win over the multiple world champions.
It was pure theater and Kalvø was inspired. Years later, in 2012, he turned the moment into a comic opera called ‘Norge – Brazil, an opera’. May be nominated for that year’s Hedda Awards for Best Production.
As the two teams meet again in the round of 16 at this World Cup, the opera is bringing back memories – and reminding Brazil that Norway are still unbeaten. He never beat even in friendship. Brazil might not find it funny but Norway does.
“When you look at the match between Norway and Brazil (1998) with the intention of making an opera, you see how incredibly big and dramatic stories are during a football match,” Kalvø told the performing arts hub Sceneweb. “In the last 15 minutes of this match alone, there are at least ten stories that could be fantastic to dramatize,” he said.
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Sceneweb remembers the group game when “Norway went bananas.” On Oslo’s main street Karl Johan, who has seen Viking rows this year, had fans dancing on him. Common people were jumping into the fountain and singing songs. It was the first time anyone had seen Kjetil Reykdal smile as he took the nerveless penalty. “Everything was possible this evening,” writes Sceneweb.
It all reached the opera, though the flow-pass took center stage and the alert referee was lionized as a hero. With a comic slant, ball-soaked footballers in sweat-soaked jerseys, ski masks and crosshairs create a unique operatic setting. NKR.
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Helge Forde, a resident of Langewaag playing New Orleans gospel jazz in a jazz band with ties to South American culture, was called to the penalty spot by the referee after a shirt-tug pointed to the penalty spot. “You know there’s a lot of emotion in opera. We’re going to try to show what can happen during a football match, and there can be a lot,” the band said. NKR.
Calvo did not regret taking creative liberties, saying, “It was tempting to let things happen in this story that were completely different than the match, so yeah, it happens. It’s great to have the power to rewrite history. You should use that power when you get the chance.”
The opera was directed by stage director Kari Standel Pavelich who had not seen the 1998 game but saw it as an opportunity to blend the two folk cultures. “It’s not just fancy people anymore, it’s ordinary people who go to the opera. Now we hope to bring together both football fans and those who love opera, and I think we’ll have a fantastic show,” she told NKR. “And it’s not just about football. We’re trying to recreate the society of Norway and the rest of the world in 1998”
Calvo admits that he himself is an opera ignoramus, although he immediately knew that Norway, who defeated Brazil, was Norse-Loire. He will elect a different President of the United States during the day. “I’m humble about this task, as Barack Obama said. I have a lot of respect for people I know nothing about. I don’t know anything about opera, I contribute with football, stupidity, stupidity and words,” he said. NKR.