There's nothing like a federal election to help draw attention to a comic opera about a controversial politician.

To Larry Weinstein's amusement, some have even suggested the timing of Mulroney: The Opera, his musical satire on Canada's 18th prime minister, was a deliberate plot to discredit the Conservatives two weeks before we go to the polls.

"I heard about the election while I was in Geneva at a convention," chuckled the Rhombus Media co-founder. "I thought, 'Oh, my goodness.' Then people were saying we did this on purpose, like we threw it together really quickly as lefty propaganda."

Weinstein laughs at the absurdity of such a theory, especially since his film had been kept secret during years of development. It makes its world première Saturday at

1 p.m. at 72 Cineplex theatres, including SilverCity.

"It's been four or five years, although since there have been four elections in the past seven years, I guess there was a pretty good chance this might happen," laughed the Toronto filmmaker, who showed excerpts at this year's Victoria Film Festival.

Conceived and directed by Weinstein, who co-produced with Jessica Daniel, the lush $3.75-million production is an exuberantly irreverent 75-minute farce rife with inspired lunacy, sharp political humour and outrageous visuals.

The cartoonish fable leapfrogs through Brian Mulroney's life from his rosy childhood in Baie-Comeau to his fairy-tale marriage to Mila and his scandal-plagued leadership that toppled him nine years after his party won 211 seats in the House of Commons.

It's playfully propelled by Alexina Louie's score referencing Gilbert & Sullivan, Wagner and Bizet — Mulroney and Pierre Trudeau doing a Meech Lake tango is a highlight — and Dan Redican's witty libretto.

While familiar highlights are skewered, including Sean Cullen's hilariously lascivious rendering of the way defence minister Robert Coates's trip to a German strip club triggered his resignation, much artistic licence was taken. Redican himself appears as a fictitious historian who periodically disputes inaccuracies as if to thwart litigation.

Buried under prosthetics and lip-synching to Daniel Okulitch's bass-baritone, actor Rick Miller literally gets under Mulroney's skin. Hamming it up with aplomb ("God, I hope she's legal!" he sings when he first meets a bikini-clad young Mila), he makes Mulroney a buffoonish yet tragic figure — and oddly endearing in a Ted Baxter-ish way.

But not endearing enough, apparently, for a CTV entertainment show anchored by Mulroney's son Ben.

"We didn't get an interview on eTalk for some reason," Weinstein deadpanned. "My fantasy was to get Rick to put on his makeup and have Ben interview him. Ben would say, 'Dad, did you agree to do this?' and he'd say, 'Well, Benedict, I have as much a sense of humour as the next guy.' "

Mulroney: The Opera isn't easily categorized, which explains some quizzical looks Weinstein has been getting.

"It's a genre that doesn't really exist," he said. "It's been a hard sell because people are scared and we're Canadians and we're polite. Some programmers said, 'I didn't think it was going to be funny.' Well, yeah, it's a comedy."

It reminded him of when Burnt Toast (2005), his series of comic operatic vignettes on relationships, played at the Calgary Film Festival.

"They didn't say it was an opera, but people enjoyed it for being comedic," he said. "It's just broad comedy. The word opera might get people nervous but they shouldn't be."

Weinstein, once an aspiring political cartoonist, said politicians "warrant being laughed at" and noted Canada has a longstanding tradition of political satire — from Wayne and Shuster to Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

"I would argue even Saturday Night Live, with Lorne Michaels, is one of the great Canadian institutions," he said. "This isn't that far removed from the Sarah Palin stuff on SNL."

He said he was gratified by reaction to his work-in-progress at Victoria's film festival.

"I was terrified about how they'd respond," Weinstein confessed. "It really reinforced me. The response to the use of the historian was wonderful, a shot in the arm."

If Mulroney: The Opera triumphs, will a comic opera about Stephen Harper be next?

"That would be my Harpera," he joked. "He does have a good singing voice. He always refused to acknowledge the importance of the arts and then he sang that song [With a Little Help From My Friends] and went up six per cent in the polls. So I suspect he saw the use of the arts for the first time in his life."

mreid@timescolonist.com