A dozen operas premiere each year in North America. Some get a second or third hearing, but most are quickly shelved and forgotten.
A notable exception is the 2000 operatic adaptation of “Dead Man Walking,” Sister Helen Prejean’s gripping look at capital punishment via her spiritual counseling of a convicted murderer.
Since its San Francisco Opera debut in 2000, the opera by composer Jake Heggie and playwright Terrence McNally has received 17 productions in venues ranging from the New York City Opera to Vienna’s Klangbogen Festival.
Soon to be 18th on the list is the University of Colorado at Boulder Opera Program. This weekend’s production will be the work’s first in the Rocky Mountain region and the first at a college or university.
William Gustafson, CU’s director of opera studies and the production’s stage director, believes the work has enjoyed unusual success because of the chemistry between Heggie and McNally and the innate appeal and adaptability of the story.
“The journey that all these characters are going on, having to search their own souls to ask and to answer the very difficult questions, goes beyond a specific time period and beyond the specific issue of the death penalty,” Gustafson said. “I think people are moved by this piece.”
McNally originally came to Heggie with 10 ideas for an opera, and the composer was immediately taken with the first title on the list, which happened to be the playwright’s favorite as well – “Dead Man Walking.”
“I was so surprised,” Heggie said from his San Francisco studio. “And, I thought, one, that’s a good thing that it was something I didn’t expect. And, two, I just immediately thought of the basic core of the story, that it was this infinite journey between these two people, an infinite journey towards redemption that involved life, death and an emotional palette that was big enough for opera.
“In other words, the work seemed innately operatic to me right away.”
Although Heggie never dared expect the enthusiastic reception the opera has enjoyed, he did have a good feeling about it as it came together.
“When we were in rehearsals, we all knew that something special was happening,” he said, “but you can never predict the future, and the track record with new operas was not good.”
To broaden the experience of his students, Gustafson sought a large-scale, contemporary opera for the 2007-08 season that would be suited to a university environment. “Dead Man Walking” ideally fit the bill.
“What does this generation think about these kinds of issues and these characters?” he said. “The idea that a piece can provoke thought and teach as much as serve as a performance vehicle – that’s been the most rewarding aspect.
“Clearly, you’re going to find productions of ‘Dead Man Walking’ with professional singers, where the vocal quality will be of a higher level, because we don’t have the Susan Grahams and Frederica von Stades in our environment.
“But I would argue that in terms of commitment to character and the sheer will to bring a performance in, these students have embraced this work. I have never experienced this level of commitment from my students.”
The time seems right for a university production, the composer said, and he trusts the artistic integrity of Gustafson and his wife, Margaret Lattimore, a CU assistant professor of voice who appeared in the 2003 Austin Lyric Opera production of “Dead Man Walking.”
From the start, Gustafson said, the CU Opera Program was willing to commit the extensive forces the piece requires. About 100 of the more than 500 students in the CU College of Music are involved in some way, including a chorus and double cast of 60 singers.
Among them is mezzo-soprano Julia Tobiska, a second-year graduate student who hopes to become a professional singer. She will appear tonight and Sunday in the taxing role of Prejean.
“It was incredibly overwhelming in the beginning,” Tobiska said. “I got my score in the mail and could barely find a section that I didn’t sing. So, I started working it on in July and really started working on it in August. It’s been a long haul, but because it takes so much work to learn a score like this, once you know it, you really know it.”
The opera program has not shirked from the many tough aspects of the story.
“We’ve had to make very clear that the subject material is mature,” Gustafson said. “There are gunshots, there’s extreme language, extreme acts of violence onstage, but that’s part of what this piece is.
“It’s great theater. It’s clearly a dramatic work that we either have to embrace and commit to completely or there’s no point in doing it.”
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
“Dead Man Walking”
Opera Macky Auditorium, University of Colorado at Boulder. The CU Opera Program’s production of the 2000 operatic adaptation of “Dead Man Walking” by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally. Parental discretion is advised. 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday 3 hours $10-$35 303-492-8008 or
Panel Discussion
Opera University of Colorado at Boulder, Grusin Hall, Imig Music Building, 18th Street and Euclid Avenue. Discussion featuring Sister Helen Prejean, author of the book “Dead Man Walking,” and Jake Heggie, composer of the operatic adaptation. 2 p.m. today. Free. 303-492-8008 or
