>>PREVIEW
DEAD MAN WALKING
Calgary Opera
Music by Jake Heggie
Libretto by Terrence McNally
January 28, February 1 and 3
Jubilee Auditorium
Dead Man Walking, the first opera by composer Jake Heggie and playwright Terrence McNally, was commissioned by San Francisco Opera and received its world première there on October 7, 2000. Calgary Opera general director Bob McPhee was among those who saw its second production, in 2002 at California’s Opera Pacific. He was so impressed that, over coffee, he discussed with Heggie the possibility of bringing the work to Calgary.
Now, almost four years later, Calgary Opera is giving Heggie and McNally’s acclaimed musical drama its Canadian debut. The production is directed by Kelly Robinson, and designed by Harry Frehner and Scott Reid. The cast is predominantly Canadian, with mezzo-soprano Kimberly Barber starring as Sister Helen Prejean and Calgary baritone Dan Okulitch portraying convicted murderer Joseph de Rocher.
Heggie plans to attend the final dress rehearsal and opening night. As well, the real Sister Helen Prejean, author of the book on which both the opera and the award-winning 1996 film are based, is also coming to Calgary for the show. The Roman Catholic nun and activist, whose non-fiction book is based on her experience as spiritual advisor to a death row inmate, will be the main attraction at a sold-out Taste of the Opera event on Friday, January 27.
Heggie says that the idea of an opera version of Dead Man Walking seems to generate excitement among people.
"I think that helps the picture of opera as current, contemporary, and initiates discussion about things that are topical for our time, but that have been topical and timely for as long as there have been human beings," he says. "Then you start looking at the older (operas) and realize they were timely and current when written and they managed to last through the years."
McNally, the opera’s librettist, viewed Prejean’s struggle in befriending a murderer while also comforting the parents of his victims and his mother, as being an American story for an American team to tell in operatic style.
For Heggie, at its core is a touching story about two people, but with larger forces at work. "Things that are so big emotionally that they compel people to sing rather than just speak," he says. "And big enough that it was the kind of singing that would fill a big hall. You need a story that has oversized emotions and oversized issues to fill an opera house. Not only does Dead Man have all that, but also it has a touching love story – not a romantic story, but how love can change and redeem your life. It’s a love that actually flourishes late in the story, but it still redeems Joe’s life and I think Sister Helen finds her redemption, too."
Prejean gave the librettist and composer carte blanche as long as the opera remained a story of redemption. She was generously and actively involved in the project without interfering in their process. The opera team followed screenwriter Tim Robbins’s concept of a composite character for the inmate, but they added scenes to tell the story more theatrically.
McNally and Heggie strove for a balanced viewpoint with their controversial material, leaving the audience to form their own opinions about the death penalty.
Heggie says he was drawn by the many transformations in Prejean’s story. "Music can express (these transformations) in ways that words can’t, and that inspired me as a composer as well. Musically, the piece uses very accessible language. It’s sung in English and I set it deliberately so it would be understandable. It runs the gamut – solos, ensembles and choruses. Stylistically it has influences from rock ’n’ roll and country music to jazz and classical. It is really an opera of our time and it seems to resonate well with younger age groups, too."
One example of the opera’s melding of the traditional and contemporary is the ensemble of parents who sing to Sister Helen, "You Don’t Know What It’s Like."
"The harmonic and rhythmic background is very baroque and yet it is a very contemporary statement – a coming together of old and new – because they have a timeless grieving feeling," he says. |
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