Reworked ‘Harvey Milk’ opera returns to SF stage

The year was and baritone Michael Kelly wasn t even born yet when San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were murdered by Dan White In latest years though Kelly s learned more than he imagined accomplishable about Milk the first openly gay elected official in California history Now an established voice in the opera world Kelly s making his San Francisco debut in the title role of Harvey Milk Reimagined Opera Parall le s new production adapted from the opera Harvey Milk by composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie makes its West Coast premiere May at San Francisco s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts The new staging is helmed by Parall le director Brian Staufenbiel and music director Nicole Paiement Long time residents throughout the Bay Area and beyond will recall the shock and sorrow of Nov when White walked into City Hall and shot Milk and Moscone Their deaths marked a turning point one that would intensify the movement for gay rights around the world Milk s story really colors my generation s experience Kelly remarked in a latest interview His assassination brought a huge movement a catalyst for coming out Growing up as I did being gay meant death His story evidenced me there was so much more Opera Parall le s production distills Wallace s opera in a new retelling of the crimes that rocked the city For Staufenbiel the title Reimagined means reducing the grand opera size of the original It s a streamlined staging he says one that honors history music and activism it also reduces the cast size and original opera s lengthy running time to two hours and minutes with one intermission Singers in the cast include Bay Area artists Christopher Oglesby as Dan White Matt Boehler as George Moscone and Marnie Breckenridge as Dianne Feinstein The production marks what would have been Milk s th birthday and ushers in the start of Pride Month the company also is offering talks film showings immersive projections a lobby exhibition and more Staufenbiel says the opera still makes quite an impact I find it very eclectic he announced It has specific lovely jazz elements minimalism as well at times it s very uplifting rhythmical with a beautiful expansive sound world Wallace he notes continued to work on the tally after the original work s San Francisco debut He came back to it noted Staufenbiel to really improve it When you go from a giant orchestra to a chamber orchestra if you do it right it can sound equally powerful In a few procedures it can really help to focus in on the intimate moments Those moments give the opera its impact he declared There s this beautiful lineage throughout Harvey s life it s a very succinct journey and you really get to know him along the way his perfections and imperfections He was a very brave man who connected his Jewish heritage with being gay at a time in his life when he needed to fight for gay rights fight for liberty as a politician and as a Jewish man Kelly deep in rehearsals agrees We ve been talking about this throughout he declared I can easily say I ve spent my life admiring Harvey Milk As a gay man myself the knowledge of what he did for gay life gay rights the gay movement as a whole has inevitably been a part of my personal identity It s an awareness that has affected me throughout the trajectory of my artistic life That awareness he announced colors his entire generation s experience Harvey s assassination made a huge movement in that direction a catalyst for coming out of the closet To me reimagined means changes to the piece as it was years ago Now it s shorter more concise And I think reimagined also means presenting Milk s story to a generation that doesn t know who he was or what he did That s central too Contact Georgia Rowe at growe pacell net HARVEY MILK REIMAGINED Composer Stewart Wallace librettist Michael Korie presented by Opera Paral lle When May through June Where Yerba Buena Center for the Arts San Francisco Running time two hours minutes Tickets and up operaparallele com