The Livingston Public Library presented "I Thought I Heard A Scream: Adapting `The Tell-Tale Heart’ from Story to Opera” on Thursday night.
Maestro Robert W. Butts explained how over the course of five months he created his own libretto for a one-act 26-minute opera based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, "The Tell-Tale Heart." The opera premiered on October 24, in time for Halloween.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story first published in 1843. It follows an unnamed narrator who insists on his sanity after murdering an old man with a "vulture eye." The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer hides the body by dismembering it and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately the narrator's guilt manifests itself in the hallucination that the man's heart is still beating under the floorboards.
Bitts explained that for his opera he (1) “made the protagonist a female, because Poe never specified the gender”; (2) “set the bedroom upstairs for greater theatrical effect” because Poe never specified its location; and (3) “added an appearance by the nosy neighbor” who Poe refers to in his short masterpiece.
The opera starred Pamela Stein, Alexandra Altonjy and Iliya Roitman with special guest appearances by Anthony Shashaty, Tom Loughman and Douglas Anderson as the police officers. It was directed by Emily Thompson-Schweer of In Mid Air Productions.
The lucky 100 who attended last night’s presentation were treated to arias from the opera performed by Pamela Stein and Alexandra Altonjy while Maestro Butts accompanied them on the piano.
The crowd was also shown most of the DVD clips from the premier performance. A DVD was presented to the library -- so get on the waiting list now.
The performers then answered questions, including what is was like for them to appear in this production.
Butts currently serves as Music Director/Conductor of The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey and New Jersey Concert Opera and as artistic director with Opera At Florham.
His next performance will be “Amid The Blinding Snow – Songs of Love Lost” and will feature the premier of his new opera addressing the love letters of Queen Elizabeth. Dan Foran and Thompson-Schweer will be performing on February 20 at 3 p.m. in Rockaway’s Bell & Barter Theater.
