Kanye West's opera 'Mary' re-tells the birth of Jesus

Riding high on the success of his Sunday Services, Kanye West is now moving into the area of biblical operas. 

His first was about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and now he's just staged another, this time about Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

The performance was put on at the Marine Stadium in Miami last week, timed to coincide with the Christmas season when Christians are celebrating the birth of Jesus. 

Never one to go with convention, West and his host of opera singers, including his Sunday Service choir, were all dressed in silver from head to toe, even spraypainting their skin and hair. 

The exception was Mary, who was light blue. 

Tickets for "Mary, A Kanye West Opera" were selling for $200 each and sold out in a day, Vanity Fair reports. 

According to the showbiz magazine's report, Chance the Rapper, who recently defended Kanye's journey into Christian music, was in the audience. 

As part of the performance, Vanity Fair reports that Kanye told the audience that Christ fulfilled all of the Old Testament promises concerning the coming Messiah. 

"Over 300 prophecies in the Scripture described the coming of the Savior. Jesus Christ fulfilled them all," he said.

"One prophecy in particular declared the sign of His coming to be marked by a voice, a voice that would prepare the hearts of the people of Israel for the Messiah."

While music played, Kanye also read out Matthew 1:20, which describes the angel coming to Joseph in a dream and telling him not to be afraid of taking Mary as his wife because the baby conceived in her "is of the Holy Ghost". 

Songs performed during the performance included "Gloria in Excelsis Deo", "Little Drummer Boy" and "O Holy Night".

The biblical opera caps a year dedicated to his new found Christian faith.  After his unexpected conversion, Kanye started up a musical project called Sunday Service with a choir and guest preachers that has toured the US. 

Then in October he released his first full gospel album, Jesus is King, that debuted at number one in the Billboard charts. 

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