GREAT SCOTT (2015)

ABOUT GREAT SCOTT

Great Scott is the first full-length opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally since Dead Man Walking in 2000. It was commissioned by The Dallas Opera and is co-produced with San Diego Opera.
 

The world premiere was Oct 30, 2015 at the Winspear Opera House with a starry cast that included Joyce DiDonato, Ailyn Pérez, Frederica von Stade, Nathan Gunn, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Kevin Burdette, Michael Mayes and Rodell Rosel.
 

It was conducted by Patrick Summers and directed by Jack O’Brien with sets and costumes by Bob Crowley, lighting by Brian MacDevitt and projections by Elaine J. McCarthy.
 

Based on an original story by McNally, Great Scott is set in a large American city that has a respected but struggling opera company and a thriving professional football team. International opera star Arden Scott has returned to her hometown to save American Opera, the company that launched her career,

but the opening night performance of the long-lost opera she discovered (Rosa Dolorosa, Figlia di Pompei) falls on the same night as the home football team’s first national championship (Go Grizzlies!). The fate of the company hangs in the balance as Arden is forced to consider the sacrifices she has made and discovers that true greatness is a matter of heart.
 

See the complete press release from The Dallas Opera.

 

GREAT SCOTT was commissioned by The Dallas Opera and co-produced with San Diego Opera, with support from The Eugene McDermott Foundation, The Hoblitzelle Foundation and The Carol Franc Buck Foundation.
 

 

ORCHESTRATION:

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, 2 percussion, timpani, piano, harp, strings

 

 

MOBY-DICK PRODUCTION REVIEWS

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, TheaterJones (Nov. 2015)

Great Scott, Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s world premiere for the Dallas Opera, takes expectations for what new opera can be to a brilliantly thrilling level … a huge success with a bright future.

Opera Warhorses (Nov. 2015)

A magnificent and glorious creation from the overture until the sweetly understated ending, this is a modern opera that defies expectations. It’s truly a game-changer: an adrenaline injection of life-force into a classic form… It is, simply, one of the most engaging modern operas produced this century.

Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice (Nov. 2015)

Heggie’s Great Scott is a Great New Opera, Hilarious, Endearing, Sophisticated, Profound. This is a major American work that will challenge and enchant audiences.

Fred Plotkin, WQXR Operavore (Nov. 2015)

This deeply moving and musically brilliant work concerns Arden Scott, a world-famous opera singer whose talents and aura inspire audiences. One can say this is so but it requires a singer who can make it real. As portrayed by Joyce DiDonato, it was in every way true … Terrence McNally’s libretto is deeply insightful about the powerful yet fragile personae that are our beloved divas and divos.

…Great Scott should enter the standard repertory just as Heggie’s two previous masterpieces – Dead Man Walking and Moby-Dick – already have.

Alex Ross, The New Yorker (Nov. 2015)

Heggie, the composer of Great Scott, has plenty of experience: he has composed five full-length operas, with a sixth arriving next year, and these days he receives more performances than any American but Philip Glass. Heggie’s strength is the naturalness of his vocal writing; singers who otherwise balk at new opera delight in his idiomatic feeling for the voice.

Great Scott had a shiny first night in the Winspear Opera House, the Dallas Opera’s handsome, resonant home. Jack O’Brien directed with comic flair; Patrick Summers gave the score forward momentum. [Joyce] DiDonato was in full, bright voice, turning on a dime from slapstick to pathos; Ailyn Pérez feasted on the role of [Tatyana] Bakst.

Catherine Womack, D Magazine (Nov. 2015)

Do not miss Great Scott, the new opera by Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally …. generous and melodic … funny, touching and endlessly entertaining… Heggie and McNally are reveling in operatic bliss, celebrating everything they (and all opera fans) love about the genre: the drama, the absurd plotlines, the divas, the virtuosity and, most indulgently, the voices. An oh, those voices!

It will make you laugh, cry and fall in love with opera all over again. Or, if you’ve yet to experience your own personal operatic “ah-ha” moment, you might just find it in Great Scott.

Judith Malafronte, Opera News (Nov. 2015)

Heggie’s facility with lyricism and pastiche served him well in the many extended passages from Rosa Dolorosa … The clever sextet “I couldn’t possibly” recreates an alphabetic opera naming game, while a final contrapuntal quartet references the trio from Der Rosenkavalier. Best of all is the wacky version of “The Star Spangled Banner,” sung at the football game by the ambitious Tatyana Bakst, with four uniformed policemen as backup. As the overbearing upstart Bakst, soprano Ailyn Pérez stole the show with her consistently beautiful, glamorous singing, while conductor Patrick Summers brought command to the work’s various musical styles.

Alexandra Bonifield, CriticalRant.com (Nov. 2015)

… “Where is opera in the American DNA?” It’s right here, with Great Scott, spot on: affectionate, wry, warm, facetious and deep in turn, multi-faceted and glorious in its musical variety and style. Prepare yourself for Joyce DiDonato as Arden Scott: she will simply knock your socks off.

GREAT SCOTT ARTICLES & PRESS RELEASES

June 18, 2015
Composing A Life — Matthew Sigman, Opera News, July 2015 Issue

January 12, 2015
Scott Cantrell – The Dallas Morning News

January 12, 2015
The Dallas Opera 2015-2016 Season Kick-Off

November 7, 2014
Cincinnati.com – "Great Scott" in Town

June 20, 2014
The Dallas Opera and San Diego Opera

January 17, 2012
THE DALLAS OPERA PROUDLY ANNOUNCES A MAJOR NEW COMMISSION

 

RECORDING

A live recording of the new comedy by Jake Heggie & Terrence McNally. The all-star cast features Joyce DiDonato, Frederica von Stade, Ailyn Pérez, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Nathan Gunn, Michael Mayes, Rodell Rosell and Kevin Burdette with the Dallas Opera Orchestra & Chorus led by conductor Patrick Summers.

“… a piece that revels in the mad extravagance of opera while embracing the grace and gorgeousness of the American lyric stage.” (Gramophone)

The libretto is available courtesy of The Dallas Opera.

Available on Amazon, Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes.

Listen now on Spotify.