# Dead Man Walking



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I'm going to a performance of this tomorrow night and really looking forward to it. Sister Helen Prejean is on record as saying 'it is the fullest expression of her story, capturing precisely how she felt as the heart-wrenching events were unraveling.' The opera composer, Jake Heggie, says, "We are telling you the story, but we don't tell you how to feel about it, we let you make up your own mind." 

I'm hoping this great art makes me THINK. More later.


----------



## mountmccabe (May 1, 2013)

I saw Opera Parallèle's production last weekend and enjoyed it and found the piece very interesting. I wrote about it in another thread.



mountmccabe said:


> Last night I saw Opera Parallèle's production of Jake Heggie's _Dead Man Walking_. Overall I liked the piece and the performance....


It definitely made me think but unfortunately I don't think McNally and Heggie were successful in that "make up your own mind" bit; to me the piece seems rather one-sided.


----------



## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I saw it. Didn''t like it.

And yes, I thought it one sided too.


----------



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I do have to agree with you both as 1. It didn't affect me as emotionally as I hoped and 2. It didn't leave me thinking about much. I have not read the book or seen the movie. I understand the movie leaves the thought of whether Joe actually did commit the crime a bit open. That is not the case here as the opera opens with the crime (very graphically portrayed, btw) as the first scene. The opera then has some moments of humor (as Sister Helen drives to the penitentiary) but from then on it is quite serious and, in my opinion, not as tightly written as it could be. I thought the best scene was with the parents, where the parents of the murdered children are mourning their loss, and regret that they will not be able to see how their children turn out but Joe's mother is voicing regret that her parenting was so inadequate that her son turned out as he did. Both are horrible thoughts as a parent.

The casting and staging were great. The singer portraying Joe DeRocher (Zachary Gordin) is extremely buff and we got to see _all_ of him. The surtitles did not include any of the swearing. Our seats were high enough that we were able to look straight down into the orchestra pit (49 musicians + conductor) and this kept us entertained as well. Sister Helen Prejean herself was in attendance at the production and came on stage.

mountmccabe, thanks for posting the link to your review.


----------

