Projects of Nomi that have never been realized
In real life, Nomi grew up without a father. An article in the "New York Times" states that he is the product of his mother Bettina's affair with a soldier, whom Nomi never got to see. "How the Musical Was was won" reflects Nomi's inner turmoil in a touchingly naive way. This becomes clear in one of his interviews. In it he tells that although from the very beginning he wanted to sing opera. "When I first heard an opera singer, I thought: My God! That's how you should sing too!" Nevertheless, he was always at odds between opera and pop. As a child, I stole money from my mom. I bought King Creole from Elvis Presley. She was so angry about it, because she couldn't stand rock 'n' roll. She took the record from me and exchanged it for one from Maria Callas."
"How the Musical Was was won", if it was really planned as a stage show, is not the only project of Nomi that was never realized. At the time of his death, a planned science fiction opera with the working title "Za Bakdaz" is nearing completion. The music is mostly composed, and this work also dramatizes the relationship between humanity and aliens.
When Klaus Nomi's time on our planet Earth expires, he leaves behind a multi-layered legacy. His role as a queer identification figure has been underestimated for a long time – and is still overlooked to this day. In Rosa von Praunheim's 2019 documentary "Operndiven – Operntunten" Nomi would have deserved at least a mention, especially since he is probably the only person far and wide who corresponds to both attributions of the film title. But Nomi does not appear in it, although Praunheim and Nomi lived in the same house on St. Mark's Place is located in New York. In addition, Praunheim uses a song by Nomi for his radio play "Adonis in New York" in 1987, which is one of the classics of AIDS coverage today. The fact that Nomi, in turn, is simply forgotten in the operatic bottom film is amazing. However, Praunheim has expressly emphasized that he is not an expert in music. In any case, it would not be the worst idea to revise the documentation shown on arte once before and to enrich it with some kind of tribute to Klaus Nomi.