DEAD MAN WALKING, Opera Live Stream

Join us as Chicago PrimeTimers  see the a live stream of the opera "Dead Man Walking" by gay composer Jake Heggie and the late gay librettist Terrence McNally. 

The opera "Dead Man Walking" debuted in 2000 at San Francisco Opera, and is inspired by the work of Sister Helen Prejean (who also inspired director Tim Robbins' Academy Award-winning 1995 film of the same name). Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato stars as Sister Helen, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny stars as the death row inmate that she ministers to in the days leading up to his execution.  

Dead Man Walking is a work of non-fiction by Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and one of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille based in New Orleans. Arising from her work as a spiritual adviser to two convicted murderers on death row, the book is set largely at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. It examines moral issues related to the men's acknowledgement of their crimes and to the state's use of the death penalty.

Critics praised the sharp, finely delineated performances by the principals and the simple yet effective production. "It was a triumph beyond what even its most optimistic boosters could have predicted" wrote the San Francisco Chronicle's critic. "The reason for the work's appeal lies in its almost perfect fusion of ideas and emotions," wrote The Australian in 2007.

Many also found that McNally's libretto to be among the most finely crafted in recent memory: "the splendid libretto – by turns plainspoken and eloquent, with wonderful splashes of wry humor to lighten the tone when it most needs it – creates the structural backbone of this wrenching drama". Although not all of it has been set to music, McNally gave the libretto to Heggie with the express instructions to use whatever portions of it he felt necessary, and to discard the rest.

Tony Award-winning director Ivo van Hove's new Metropolitan Opera production of "Dead Man Walking" as part of its Live in HD Series at 11:55 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, 2024.

Afterwards those interested will head for lunch to discuss.