Dead Man
Walking Union Avenue Opera, 2011
Chuck Lavazzi – Operatic St. Louis / KDHX
As I’ve noted in the past, Union Avenue Opera isn’t shy about tackling
material that pushes the company’s artistic and physical limits. Sometimes, as with last month’s
Turandot, the results have been mixed. With the local premiere of Dead Man Walking, the result is a
searing and riveting presentation that is simply one of best local opera productions since Opera
Theatre’s Glorianna back in 2005. Union Avenue couldn’t have chosen a better way to end their 2011
season.
Absolutely every aspect of Union Avenue’s work is spot on. The cast, headed
by mezzo Elise Qualgiata as Sister Helen Prejean, is first-rate both vocally and theatrically—as good a
collection of singers and actors (some roles are non-singing) as you will find anywhere. Tim Ocel’s
direction is clear and focused, assisted by Patrick Huber’s set, which makes smart use of large, mobile
chain-link fence units to suggest the oppressive prison atmosphere and also enable fast and fluid scene
changes. Artistic director and conductor Scott Schoonover holds Jake Heggie’s complex and evocative
score together beautifully, despite the challenges presented by the large number of singers and the
difficult acoustics of the Union Avenue space. Kaitlyn Breen’s lighting nicely delineates playing areas
and Teresa Doggett’s costumes effectively capture the feel of rural 1980s Louisiana.
The libretto—by noted playwright Terrence McNally, based on Sister Helen
Prejean’s memoir of her experiences ministering to convicted killers in the Louisiana prison system—is
literate and imaginative. It might benefit for an edit here and there, especially in the long “driving
to Angola” scene and during some moments in the second act that struck me a repetitive, but on the whole
it’s a remarkably gripping and, for the most part, even-handed look at the difficult emotional and
ethical questions raised by America’s justice, prison, and execution system. The character of convicted
murderer Joseph de Rocher is, perhaps, less repellant and more willing to seek atonement than the
real-life killers that Sister Helen counseled, but this IS fiction, after all. You can’t put real life
on stage without considerable modification.
Baritone Jordan Shanahan doesn’t so much sing and act the role of de Rocher
as inhabit it. Ditto for soprano Debra Hillabrand as de Rocher’s long-suffering mother. Their scenes
neatly capture their characters’ tragic situation. David Dillard, Stephanie Tennill, Cecelia Stearman
and Jon Garrett create a powerful quartet of murder victim parents. Robert Reed is a strong presence as
the sympathetic Angola warden George Benton, nicely contrasting with Clark Sturdevant’s work as the
callous prison chaplain, Father Grenville. Phillip Touchette has a charming cameo as a motorcycle cop
who stops the speeding Sister Helen on her way to Angola, only to tear up the ticket as ask her to pray
for his sick mother.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Dead Man Walking, though, is the score.
Mr. Heggie’s music is clearly “modern” without any of the deliberately off-putting clangor that
characterizes a lot of the newer stuff in concert halls these days. Southern American folk, blues and
popular music ideas are woven neatly and seamlessly into the aural fabric. It’s both accessible and
smart, which is a neat trick.
Dead Man Walking is an emotionally draining and sometimes difficult work that
is not for the faint of heart or mind, but it’s well worth seeing and hearing. It’s good to know that
serious, theatrically canny composers are still writing operas out there, and Union Avenue deserves
hearty applause for bringing this work to St. Louis for the first time.