Jake Heggie: It's a Wonderful Life (Live) Houston Grand Opera Chorus, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra & Patrick Summers

• Jack Heggie (1961): It's a Wonderful Life:
• 1 Prelude (Live) 02:15
• 2 Act I: Clara in the Heavens (Live) 10:37
• 3 Act I: George Bailey's Childhood (Live) 08:41
• 4 Act I: Bedford Falls's Aladdin (Live) 02:56
• 5 Act I: Goodbye Bedford Falls (Live) 05:30
• 6 Act I: The High School Dance (Live) 04:05
• 7 Act I: I'm Gonna See the World (Live) 06:31
• 8 Act I: Wait and Save (Live) 06:26
• 9 Act I: Four Years (Live) 03:40
• 10 Act I: Harry's Homecoming (Live) 00:28
• 11 Act I: A Rainbow at Midnight (Live) 06:10
• 12 Act I: I'm Gonna Love You 'Til the Day I Die (Live) 06:26
• 13 Act II: George and Mary's Wedding Day (Live) 03:50
• 14 Act II: The Bank Run of 1929 (Live) 05:37
• 15 Act II: Changes and Blessings (Live) 03:20
• 16 Act II: Thank You, Mr. Bailey (Live) 01:11
• 17 Act II: I Want to Hire You, George (Live) 05:15
• 18 Act II: One Country, One Dream (Live) 04:16
• 19 Act II: What a Day! (Live) 01:20
• 20 Act II: Uncle Billy Loses the Bank Deposit (Live) 04:20
• 21 Act II: Zuzu's Petals (Live) 05:09
• 22 Act II: You're Worth More Dead Than Alive (Live) 03:47
• 23 Act II: I Wish I'd Never Been Born (Live) 05:06
• 24 Act II: The World Without George Bailey (Live) 08:12
• 25 Act II: Christmas Morning (Live) 04:39
• 26 Act II: A Wonderful Life (Live) 05:23
• 27 Act II: Auld Lang Syne (Live) 01:28
• Total Runtime 02:06:38

Info for Jake Heggie: It's a Wonderful Life (Live)

Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer knew before they ever wrote a note or a line of It s a Wonderful Life that there are challenges in adapting a treasured classic for the operatic stage. After all, Heggie and Scheer s hit 2010 opera Moby-Dick raised the same challenges: how could they remain faithful to the source material and still create something new, which emphasized the story s innate operatic qualities?

For It s a Wonderful Life, Heggie and Scheer responded by keeping the basic plot and characters from the beloved Frank Capra film version but changing the perspective. As in the film, an angel changed in the opera from Clarence to Clara is assigned to help a man named George Bailey, who is despondent and contemplating taking his own life on Christmas Eve; if Clara succeeds, she will earn her wings. But in a departure from the film, all the action takes place from Clara s perspective and in her realm. Seventy mirrored doors represent portals in time and space, which Clara uses to piece together the events of George s life in an effort to understand what has brought him to this moment of despair.

How well did Heggie and Scheer succeed? Critics said the feel good work (Opera Warhorses) dispels any notion that you may have about expecting the opera to duplicate the film [and has a] crazy-quilt score that may be Heggie s most delightful concoction (Theater Jones). As the Houston Chronicle critic summed up, George Bailey would be proud.

What a great joy, privilege, and immense challenge it was to take the beloved story of It’s a Wonderful Life and compose the music for the people of Bedford Falls. The emotional journey of George Bailey and Clara allowed me to call on musical styles of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, contrasted with music from the heavens. The project of a lifetime.” (Jake Heggie)

“From the moment I began work on the libretto, I believed that George Bailey’s journey from despair to redemption was something that music could thrillingly illuminate. I also believed, with all my heart, that this story’s message of the value of every life was essential for our own time. Working on this project has been a profound privilege.” (Gene Scheer)

All theatrical composers have themes that continually inspire and define their art. For Verdi, it was tension between public duty and private passion. Wagner was obsessed with the ancient Greek dramatists and the redemptive power of women. Benjamin Britten continually returned to themes about how societies vilify outsiders.

One of the most popular opera composers of our young century, Jake Heggie, musically and theatrically illuminates rich human stories about identity, the theme to which he so often returns. All of his major characters - both Sister Helen Prejean and the doomed title character in Dead Man Walkin; Sarah in The End of the Affair; Madeline Mitchell in Three Decembers; the unforgettable fellow citizens we meet in Out of Darkness; the entire crew aboard Moby-Dick's Pequod; and the ardent Arden Scott, the title character in Great Scott - are at the crossroads of a profound why in their lives. The same is true of It's a Wonderful Life, a memory piece about two characters who come to each other's aid in ways we don't fully understand until the opera's moving climax.

It's a Wonderful Life is also about the transformative effect of simple kindnesses, a perfect description of the gratitude that I know Jake Heggie feels towards his growing audience. He is, in his unassuming, bold, and accessible way, bringing opera back to the people." (Patrick Summers, conductor)

Houston Grand Opera Chorus
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra
Patrick Summers, conductor

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Booklet for Jake Heggie: It's a Wonderful Life (Live)