
Oscar 2013
The Love That Dared…
Oscar is Theo Morrison’s vividly observed opera about Oscar Wilde — whose legendary wit concealed a life of high principle and agonizing persecution. Pursuing the beautiful in life and in art, Wilde became a social pariah in London society even as his plays won unprecedented success in London theatre.
Synopsis
Introduction
A historical Introduction by librettist John Cox:
Walt Whitman met Oscar Wilde during the young Irish poet’s lecture tour of the USA in 1882.Walt was at the height of his fame, whereas Oscar was merely a celebrity lecturer explaining the new Aesthetic Movement to the American public. He had at this point written nothing to hint at his enduring genius. By the time Oscar met Lord Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie, Walt was dead while Oscar was very famous. It is from his vantage point of Immortality that Walt presents our opera, revealing to us the catastrophe that Oscar’s love for Bosie brought about.
Bosie Douglas was the youngest son of the Marquess of Queensberry, and they despised one another. Oscar soon found himself in the crossfire of their enmity when Queensberry raised public objection to Oscar’s relationship with his son, imputing a sexual basis to it. Bosie forced Oscar to sue Queensberry for libel, hoping thereby to disgrace him, but Queensberry won the case, so that the disgrace fell on Oscar. He was rapidly put on trial, convicted and jailed for “gross indecency.”
Artists

David Daniels
Countertenor
Oscar Wilde

Heidi Stober
Soprano
Ada Leverson

William Burden
Tenor
Frank Harris

Dwayne Croft
Baritone
Walt Whitman

Reed Luplau
Actor & Choreographer
Bosie

Kevin Burdette
Bass
Mr. Justice Sir Alfred Wills/Colonel Isaacson

Aaron Pegram
Tenor
Detective/Prison Warder

Rocky Sellers
Bass
Detective/Prison Warder

Ricardo Rivera
Baritone
Hotel Manager/Warder Thomas Martin

Patrick Guetti
Bass
Leggatt

Yoni Rose
Tenor
Bailiff

Reuben L. Lillie
Baritone
Jury Foreman

Christian Sanders
Tenor
Chaplain

David Blalock
Tenor
Infirmary Patient

Benjamin Sieverding
Bass
Infirmary Patient

Evan Rogister
Conductor

Kevin Newbury
Director

David Korins
Scenic Designer

David C. Woolard
Costume Designer

Rick Fisher
Lighting Designer

Seán Curran
Choreographer

Susanne Sheston
Chorus Director