First performance 19 September 2009 | Language American English | |
Characters Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Gwen Ifill, Diane Sawyer, Samuel J. Wurzelbacher | ||
Say It Ain't So, Joe is a chamber opera in two acts by Curtis K. Hughes inspired by text drawn from the public record of the 2008 United States vice-presidential debate where vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is addressed by Sarah Palin in a similar manner as the famous quote referring to Shoeless Joe Jackson. Commissioned and produced by Guerilla Opera, Say It Ain't So, Joe premiered in Boston on September 19, 2009 at the Boston Conservatory Zack Box Theater.
Contents
Instrumentalists
Production staff
Composer's view
"When watching the US Vice Presidential debate in 2008, I was struck by the extraordinary musical contrasts between the voices of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, as well as the convergence of two such fascinating life stories, both containing tragic, heroic, and comic elements. The audience for my opera Say it ain't so, Joe will experience a surreal and fractured vision of that remarkable encounter, as well as brief glimpses of other contemporaneous events and political figures, with some fantastical digressions." – Curtis K. Hughes
Act 1
Prelude
Scene One: January 2009: The Palin Residence. Wasilla, Alaska
Interlude
Scene Two: October 2, 2008: United States vice-presidential debate, 2008, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
Scene Three: August 28, 2008
Interlude
Scene Four: October 2, 2008
Scene Five: October 2008: Good Morning America television interview
Scene Six: October 2, 2008
Act 2
Prelude
Scene One: Late 2008: Television Interview
Scene Two: October 2, 2008
Interlude
Scene Three: Late October 2008: Republican campaign rally
Scene Four: October 2, 2008
Scene Five: in illo tempore
Scene Six: October 2, 2008