If I Were You • 2019
Libretto by Gene Scheer
Based on the novel Si j’étais vous by Julien Green, courtesy of the Estate of Julien Green and Editions Fayard.
Opera in two acts
World Premiere: August 1, 2019
Commissioned by the Merola Opera Program
Duration: 2 hours
About
In this modern telling of the Faust story, the devil makes a bargain with a dispirited young writer. He is given the supernatural power to move his soul and identity from person to person for as long as he likes; but, if he ever returns to his original body, he will die and the devil will collect his soul. On his precarious journey to win the heart of his beloved, he leaves a trail of human wreckage and hollow shells. In the end, will he choose to live forever as someone else, or die for love as himself?
“A work of inventiveness and expressive urgency… bright and superbly evocative music.”
Premiere Cast & Creative Team
Conductor: Nicole Paiement
Production: Keturah Stickann Doucet
Set Designer: Liliana Piñeiro
Costume Designer: Alina Bokovikova
Lighting Designer: Lucas Krech
Projection Designer: Peter Torpey
Brittomara: Brennan Blankenship / Cara Collins
Diana: Ann-Marie MacIntosh / Esther Tonea
Fabian: Michael Day / Nicholas Huff
Selena: Elisa Sunshine / Patricia Westley
David: Brandon Russell
Putnam: Rafael Porto
Paul: Timothy Murray
Cop: Edward Laurenson
Commission and original production supported by generous gifts from Diane B. Wilsey, Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, Betty Poetz Ferguson Foundation, Ululani Foundation, Jack H. Lund Charitable Foundation, and John & Cynthia Fry Gunn. Additional support was provided by Donna & Nordin Blacker, Barbara Bruser & Richard Clark, Carlyn Clause & Alexander L. Brainerd, Jayne & Peter Davis, Mary & Craig Henderson, Franklin & Catherine Johnson, Bernice Lindstrom, Scott & Susan Lord, James A. Noe III, Mr. & Mrs. Bernard Osher, Bruce & Fran Walker, and Susan York.