Poor Kevin Cogill. One minute he's lying in bed, dreaming whatever dreams a 27-year-old mp3 blogger who calls himself Skwerl is wont to dream, the next he's being shaken awake by armed FBI agents, and arrested on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws.

Cogill's apparent crime is the streaming...

History has shown us that the "rock opera" is, at best, a dubious enterprise, but the recent London staging of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's Monkey: Journey To The West bucks the trend with flair and finesse. Who said ambition is dead?

In England, over-ambition is traditionally frowned upon....