A Dayton Opera Premiere - The Consul
Dayton Opera and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra at The Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center in downtown Dayton.
Event details
* this page may be updated if event is repeated in the future *
A Dayton Opera Premiere - The Consul
The Consul delivers a punch as powerful and timely as its subject matter—the struggle for freedom against oppression and the maddening nature of unrelenting bureaucracy.
Set in a large central European city in the present, Gian Carlo Menotti’s first full-length opera played Broadway for eight months, winning both the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the 1950 New York Drama Critics' Circle award for Best Musical.
Political dissident John Sorel is on the run from the secret police. His wife, Magda, and his mother conceal him. The police arrive to search, but their efforts are in vain. John plans his escape and tells Magda to apply for a visa to leave the country. He will wait at the border until he knows his family is safe.
The emotional high point of the opera comes when Magda, thwarted in her quest for a visa, addresses the Consul’s indifferent secretary in “To this we’ve come,” a stirring lament over the world’s inhumanity to the suffering. Incensed at her request to fill out more forms, Magda explodes with “I ask you for help, and all you give me is papers! Papers!” Her thrilling conclusion warns tyrants and petty bureaucrats alike: “Oh, the day will come . . . when our hearts aflame will burn your paper chains!”
Links & Tags
The Schuster Center
Dayton Performing Arts Alliance.
Dayton Opera.
