Summer and Smoke

Opera in 2 acts

libretto by Lanford Wilson after the play "Summer and Smoke" by Tennessee Williams

Based on the play by famed American playwright, Tennessee Williams, Summer and Smoke relates the story of longing and unrequited love in a small town between a minister’s daughter and a charismatic yet dissolute suitor.

Edition: Performance material

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Description

Lee Hoiby’s opera is based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name and is set in a small Mississippi town where the young, sexually repressed Alma Winemuller is jilted by the wild and undisciplined town doctor, John Buchanan. While aware on one level of her alluring and charming nature, Alma is increasingly haunted by inner demons that brand her too fragile to cope with the harsh realities of the world around her. The play revisits a tragic theme often found in Williams’ work where his protagonists, often female, valiantly confront emotional crises only to be ultimately broken by their inability to cope with the conditions that surround them.

Orchestral Cast

2(2.pic).1(ca).2(bcl).1-2.1.1.0-timp.1perc(glsp, xyl[opt.], tri, sus cym, tam-t, s.d, b.d, wdbl, tamb)-hp.cel/off stage piano-str(5.4.3.2.1 minimum)
offstage [recording]: 2tpt-gtr.pno-2vn.db

Cast

Alma as a child · speaking role - John as a child · speaking role - Alma Winemiller · soprano - The Reverend Winemiller · bass-baritone - Mrs. Winemiller · speaking role - John Buchanan Jr. · baritone - Dr. Buchanan · bass-baritone - Rosa Gonzales · mezzo-soprano - Papa Gonzales · speaking role - Nellie Ewell · lyric soprano - Mrs. Bassett · mezzo-soprano - Rosemary · soprano - Roger Doremus · tenor - Vernon · baritone - Archie Kramer · baritone - Townspeople · non-singing