The Wall Street Journal-20080119-WEEKEND JOURNAL- Picks -- -Elmer Gantry-- Opera- A show draws on classical- gospel and folk to bring the 1927 novel to the stage
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WEEKEND JOURNAL; Picks -- 'Elmer Gantry': Opera; A show draws on classical, gospel and folk to bring the 1927 novel to the stage
'Elmer Gantry," Sinclair Lewis's 1927 novel about a hypocritical preacher, has been made into a play, a movie and a musical. It is now an opera, which premiered in November at Nashville Opera. It will be performed next week at Montclair State University, Montclair, N.J., Jan. 23-27.
The new show uses gospel, folk and classical music to tell the story of the rise and fall of the evangelist Elmer Gantry in early 20th- century rural America. "New opera has been seen as something confined to a small coterie of listeners and opera nuts who might appreciate new music," says composer Robert Aldridge. He says that he and librettist Herschel Garfein wrote "Elmer Gantry" "not only for opera fans but for people who might never have seen an opera." Mr. Garfein says that he and his partner tried to create characters with "the ambiguity and richness" one encounters in Mozart or Verdi operas. A review in the Tennessean praised the opera for capturing a "boisterous American milieu." A Web site, www.elmergantryopera.com, offers background on the creation of the piece and excerpts from the score.
