After a very intense period of score study, I’m about to leave for Amsterdam to start rehearsing Tazewell Thompson and Jeanine Tesori’s Blue which will have its European Premiere at Dutch National Opera in November. This devastating work tells the fictional but all too familiar story of a symbolically unnamed Afro-American family – The Mother: a businesswoman, The Father: a New York police officer, and The Son, a promising teenage art student, who is shot mid-narrative by a white cop – one of his Father’s colleagues.
As harrowing as the subject matter is, I’ve really enjoyed learning the score and look forward to bringing my perspective on its very rich musical material to the stage. Having a cast that mixes veterans of the show, like the Bass Baritone Kenneth Kellog, who created the role of the Father, with many first-timers (like me) should make for an intriguing combination of interpretational maturity and freshness. The production will be directed by its librettist Tazewell Thompson.
May 15, 2024
April 20, 2024
March 4, 2024
