An American Dream

• CONDUCTOR:
  Lance Inouye
• DIRECTOR:
  Richard Gammon
• Eva Crowley:
  Sarah Lambert Connelly
• Setsuko Kobayashi:
  Helen Zhibing Huang*
• Mama, Mrs. Hiroko Kobayashi:
  Alice Chung
• Papa, Mr. Makoto Kobayashi:
  Robert Ellsworth Feng
• Jim Crowley:
  Morgan Smith
• FBI Agent:
  Pat Connelly
• 
  *HOT debuts

Provocative drama with local connections

Treasured possessions become symbols of home in this Seattle Opera commission written by composer Jack Perla from a libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo and inspired by true stories from our painful history. Set during World War II, this opera explores the lives of two women: a Japanese American forced to leave her home and a German Jewish immigrant preoccupied with those she left behind. An American Dream is accompanied by a four-piece chamber ensemble, and while this opera is a piece of fiction, the story was crafted from interviews with residents of Puget Sound, Washington, who experienced the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

We are honored to partner with the Honouliuli National Historic Site for this special production. Although not yet open to the public, Honouliuli National Historic Site will tell the history of incarceration, martial law, and the experience of prisoners of war in Hawai‘i during World War II. Honouliuli National Historic Site will be a place to reflect on wartime experiences and recommit ourselves to the pursuit of freedom and justice.

Listen to “Don’t You Recognize Me?” from An American Dream:

FEATURING:

Eva Crowley Sarah Lambert Connelly Setsuko Kobayashi Helen Zhibing Huang* Mama/Hiroko Kobayashi Alice Chung

 

What’s the music like?

“It’s a triumph. It’s riveting. It’s unsettling and uncomfortable. It’s strong. For many, it will be emotional… “…an atmospheric score which surrounds but never overwhelms the voices….”The whole was a tour de force…” – City Arts Magazine

“A cumulative experience in which music plays but one part…a prime example of “people’s music” that tackles a formerly uncomfortable subject with honesty and whose ultimate impact relies, in large part, on non-musical components that are anything but ancillary.” – Classical Voice America

“Full of impressionist and minimalist impulses, with washes of color and repeated motoric elements, it sounded like a meeting of Debussy and Philip Glass. Jessica Murphy Moo’s heart-wrenching, poetic libretto got right to the point in an opening scene with a Japanese-American family hastily burning belongings in the hope of avoiding arrest…An American Dream is a gripping piece of musical theater” – Seattle Times

Sample some of the music below from Seattle Opera’s performance of An American Dream.

Listen to Setsuko’s Aria
Listen to Farewell Trio
Listen to Eva’s Aria

 

Additional Resources

Restoring Hawaii’s Forgotten World War II internment sites
Efforts to tell the world about Honouliuli are still in progress. President Barack Obama proclaimed it a National Monument in 2015, and it was redesignated Honouliuli National Historic Site in 2019—the first steps toward opening it to the public. 

Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp
Watch the official park film for Minidoka National Historic Site, narrated by actor and activist George Takei. Learn about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, the experiences of survivors and their descendants, and the site’s relevance to the complicated issues Americans face today.

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