Jake Heggie’s First Opera to Return to SFO

In a little less than a month, the War Memorial Opera House will see the return of Jake Heggie’s first opera, Dead Man Walking, setting a libretto by playwright Terrence McNally. This will be the opera’s 25th anniversary, since it was first performed at the Opera House on October 7, 2000. Patrick Summers, who conducted that debut, will return to the podium of the San Francisco Opera (SFO). Joe Mantello staged the premiere production, and the revival will be directed by Leonard Foglia.

Cell block set for the Lyric Opera of Chicago production of Dead Man Walking (photograph by Andrew Cioffi, courtesy of SFO)

The opera’s title is taken from a memoir by Sister Helen Prejean, which was published in 1993. This was a personal “confessional” about her encounter with a convicted murderer on death rom at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. As is often the case, the success of the book led to a film adaptation. In the film, the convict was given the name Matthew Poncelet. The role was performed by Sean Penn with Susan Sarandon as Sister Prejean.

In the opera the name of the convict is Joseph De Rocher (a composite of Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie from the original book); and the cast includes a generous number of family members, as well as prison guards and inmates. In the first performance of the opera, the role of De Rocher’s mother was sung by mezzo Frederica von Stade. Sister Prejean was also a mezzo (Susan Graham), while De Rocher was sung by baritone John Packard. For this season’s revival production, Graham will return, this time in the role of De Rocher’s mother. Baritone Ryan McKinny will take on the role of De Rocher, and Sister Prejean will be sung by Jamie Barton.

As usual, a generous amount of background information will be available through the home page for this production. This Web page also includes hyperlinks for purchasing tickets for the two 2 p.m. matinee performances on September 14 and 28 and the four 7:30 p.m. performances on September 17, 20, 23, and 26. Further information is available from the Box Office, which is open on Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located at the entrance to the Opera House at 301 Van Ness Avenue, and it can be reached by calling 415-864-3330. On the date of each performance, the Box Office will be open through the (only) intermission.