Opera and Music Theater

Articles that explore the Western tradition of theatrical performance known “opera;” this category also includes American Musical Theater, musical movies, and other staged works that include singing

The More Things Stay The Same

Jude Thomas 0 Comments

In a recent Huffington Post article, Metropolitan Opera Director Peter Gelb responded to the accusations that John Adams’ opera The Death of Klinghoffer is an antisemitic work, and to the protests surrounding the opera’s inclusion in the Metropolitan Opera’s current season. In his brief essay, Gelb accuses many of those who describe Klinghoffer as antisemitic of being uninformed and ignorant of the production:

It would seem that most of those violently objecting to our presentation of Klinghoffer have no interest in knowing what the opera is really about. Without having read the complete libretto or ever having seen the opera, they nonetheless are quick to condemn it. For them, giving any voice to terrorism is a sin in itself.

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What do we call it?

Jude Thomas 1 Comment

Last May, the day after the concert premiere of my opera, one of my singers and I drove up to Palm Desert to see a friend of ours perform in Sondheim’s, A Little Night Music. On the way back to San Diego (about a two-hour drive) we had a lengthy debate/conversation about music for the stage: opera vs. musical vs. operetta, etc. What I remember most clearly about our conversation was when we both agreed that Night Music is certainly an operetta. I’m much more liberal than my friend about calling something an opera rather than a musical, so I was willing to call Sondheim’s show an opera—or a musical. Honestly, it doesn’t matter much to me. I like to think of myself as someone who doesn’t get dragged into long debates about the finer details of what genre a work of music might be; still, the fact that I felt comfortable calling the work an operetta did seem to undermine my convictions, so the moment stuck with me.
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Trains, Buskers, and an Opera: Sounds of a New City

Jude Thomas 2 Comments

At the end of June I left San Diego and SoCal for the environs of New York City and took up residence in the neighborhood of Bushwick in Brooklyn. I lived in San Diego my entire life, and as I was finishing my master’s degree at San Diego State I decided it was time for a change. I looked around the United States for places to relocate and created a list of towns based upon existing contacts. After deliberation, Brooklyn was my choice.
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The Scent of Jasmine on Parker Street: a new one-act opera

Jude Thomas 0 Comments

On April 25, 2012 at 5:00pm San Diego State University Opera Theater will be presenting an unstaged workshop/reading of a new one-act opera: The Scent of Jasmine on Parker Street. The show’s story was created by local poet and artist, Ted Washington. Ted also wrote the books and lyrics (or the libretto) for the show, and I composed the music.
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