I discovered recently that the Lyric Opera of Chicago plans a 2015 world premier opera based on Ann Patchett's novel (about an opera singer),
Bel Canto. Peruvian-born composer Jimmy Lopez has been assigned the score and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz will pen the libretto, with soprano Renee Fleming as creative consultant. Although the book seems an obvious choice for stage treatment, the
Chicago Reader notes a formidable barrier,
The story, about a group of trapped hostages and their captors, all
speaking different languages and communicating through an interpreter,
is a dramatist's nightmare. Cruz says he "immediately connected" with
the material of the novel, but is wrestling with the fact that "we have
to be cautious or the translator will be the main character."
We'll keep an eye on this.
Meanwhile, this got me to wondering just how many books we have read that have subsequently been turned into operas. When you stop and think about it, there is a lot of drama in the struggle for human rights, with plenty of bloody action, soulful martyrs, and just general outrageousness that opera requires.
Probably the most famous book-to-opera we've encountered would be
Dead Man Walking, based on Helen Prejean's
death row memoir
, which has been successfully produced by a number of opera companies. Sister Helen wrote on her blog recently,
I was just in Tulsa, Oklahoma, giving talks and media interviews for
the opera of Dead Man Walking, which opens on February 25, performed by
the Tulsa Opera. I got to meet the entire cast, including the 12 or so children, whose piping young voices inject hope.
Immediately after I left, Kirstin Chavez, the mezzo who will portray
me (her aria is “My journey…”) got on Facebook with Susan Graham and
Joyce DiDonato who have been me in past operas. I heard the Sr Helen
Trio had a lively chat, with the two vets offering robust encouragement
to Kirstin.
I appreciate opera singers now that I realize how long they prepare, how hard they work, and the stress they feel.
Joyce DiDonato and the Houston Grand Opera will release a recording of
a recording Dead Man Walking on April 24.
Click here for an xcerpt from the production that includes the children Sister Helen mentions.
Another book we have read that has been transformed for the stage is Reinaldo Arenas'
Before Night Falls. Orchestra Miami
will present the opera this fall. The world premier performance of the Jorge Martin score, by the Fort Worth Opera featuring baritone Wes Mason as the dissident Cuban writer,
has also been recorded. Here's a sample:
Azar Nafisi's
Reading Lolita in Tehran has been given a chamber opera staging. If
Nixon in China is worthy of an opera, Iran does seems a likely setting for a contemporary story. That's why I'm really curious about this
Tony Kushner-Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis)-Kronos Quartet collaboration promised for the upcoming
PEN World Voices Festival.
What else might be diva worthy? Both Sonia Nazario's
Enrique's Journey and Junot Diaz'
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
have received
theatrical treatments. But I was thinking our most recent book,
The Tiger's Wife
by Tea Obreht would be a good candidate-- they can stage the Lion King right? So a tiger, a bear or a stray elephant can't be that hard. It's got a song-writing,
gusla-playing character, multiple generations of tragedy, zany fantasy elements and oh, the 'tiger's wife' is a deaf-mute. Hmm. That could be tough, but I'm sure there are some creative minds out there up to the challenge.
I don't think it would be much of a surprise to learn that many of the authors we read would support President Obama's new initiatives for gun safety or Amnesty International's campaign to pass the Arms Trade Treaty, but you might be surprised to learn that Azar Nafisi's (Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books) call to reopen the debate on the seccond amendment is prompted not by her early life in Iran but by her son's experiences as a student at Virgina Tech during the massacre there.I could not help reminding myself that our children had survived a war and a revolution only to be so near death in a small friendly town called Blacksburg. In Iran the only people with guns, the only ones we were afraid of, belonged to the regime. Over the 18 years I spent in the Islamic Republic, I was filled with anxiety about the Revolutionary Guards raiding our schools, universities, malls, movie houses, restaurants, and coffee shops. Never in those years did I or anyone I knew worry about ordinary people going on killing sprees.
Prize winners corner:
is 
Rights Readers authors have been busy this summer:
) offers 
) in the NYT: 
.
), check out the 
at 
is available for amazon pre-order.
(yeah, I'd prefer a more pictorial response-- maybe later):
