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Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Pittsburgh Opera presents The Long Walk: A memoir of war and its aftermath
Living Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Opera brings a gripping, contemporary American opera to the CAPA School Theater in Jeremy Howard Beck’s The Long Walk. With a libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, The Long Walk is based on the book The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life that Follows by Brian Castner.
More recently, the phrase "long walk," has been used to correlate events to war. For example, "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," tells the story of a young soldier's return from war, how he got there, and when he goes back. I feel as though this opera is not much different. The story sounds beautiful, as typically movies portray the walk toward the bomb as incredibly dramatic, so to make an opera around that also sounds dramatic, but also helps non-military audiences understand more about what it takes to go to war, and what it's like to return back to day-to-day life. Not a lot of people can do that easily, and so this story sounds like something I would like to see. I love how Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama is in association with this production, and my favorite fact from the bottom of the article is that Ben Taylor, the actor playing the lead, has to run regularly so that when he has to sing and run onstage, he can do so well. Not many people can, but this opera definitely has a lot of discipline.
I am constantly fascinated by how war and soldiers are portrayed in modern society. I think a soldiers struggle to come back to society is such a personal journey, but I never imagined that it was one that could be turned into an opera. Having heard about it I really want to see it, because it seems like such a unique use of opera and such an interesting story. Since our country has been fighting a war for at least a decades it is a story that is relevant to both veterans and their families. From what I understand, reintegrating into society is incredibly difficult and lonely experience so I think it is appropriate to compare that to the microcosm of walking to disarm an IED. I also really like that metaphor because it allows people a small insight into what the world of a soldier is like.
There will always be a special place in my life for this show. I was the Technical Director for the world premiere of this show back in 2015 after I had graduated undergrad. Then I was then again the sets technical advisor in 2017, helping with the remount in Salt Lake. Now I find that another opera company close to me is doing it still. The original set was contracted out and then purchased by Opera Utah to be remounted. The Long Walk is one of the better new works of opera that I have seen come to be in recent years. The power and depth of the story overall help to fill one with a full spectrum of emotions. Wonder at the power and skill required to make the sounds, sorrow at the real world life problems that come to the surface throughout. It helps to get a different group exposed to these harsh realities of what it means to be a soldier. I will most certainly be attending this production, and I encourage all to see it as well.
3 comments:
More recently, the phrase "long walk," has been used to correlate events to war. For example, "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," tells the story of a young soldier's return from war, how he got there, and when he goes back. I feel as though this opera is not much different. The story sounds beautiful, as typically movies portray the walk toward the bomb as incredibly dramatic, so to make an opera around that also sounds dramatic, but also helps non-military audiences understand more about what it takes to go to war, and what it's like to return back to day-to-day life. Not a lot of people can do that easily, and so this story sounds like something I would like to see. I love how Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama is in association with this production, and my favorite fact from the bottom of the article is that Ben Taylor, the actor playing the lead, has to run regularly so that when he has to sing and run onstage, he can do so well. Not many people can, but this opera definitely has a lot of discipline.
I am constantly fascinated by how war and soldiers are portrayed in modern society. I think a soldiers struggle to come back to society is such a personal journey, but I never imagined that it was one that could be turned into an opera. Having heard about it I really want to see it, because it seems like such a unique use of opera and such an interesting story. Since our country has been fighting a war for at least a decades it is a story that is relevant to both veterans and their families. From what I understand, reintegrating into society is incredibly difficult and lonely experience so I think it is appropriate to compare that to the microcosm of walking to disarm an IED. I also really like that metaphor because it allows people a small insight into what the world of a soldier is like.
There will always be a special place in my life for this show. I was the Technical Director for the world premiere of this show back in 2015 after I had graduated undergrad. Then I was then again the sets technical advisor in 2017, helping with the remount in Salt Lake. Now I find that another opera company close to me is doing it still. The original set was contracted out and then purchased by Opera Utah to be remounted. The Long Walk is one of the better new works of opera that I have seen come to be in recent years. The power and depth of the story overall help to fill one with a full spectrum of emotions. Wonder at the power and skill required to make the sounds, sorrow at the real world life problems that come to the surface throughout. It helps to get a different group exposed to these harsh realities of what it means to be a soldier. I will most certainly be attending this production, and I encourage all to see it as well.
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