| Grounded | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Jeanine Tesori | |
| Librettist | George Brant |
| Language | English |
| Based on | Grounded (a play by George Brant) |
| Premiere | |
Grounded is an English-language opera with music by Jeanine Tesori and libretto by George Brant. The libretto is adapted from Brant's play of the same name.
Background
The play Grounded premiered in New York in 2014. Paul Cremo of the Metropolitan Opera attended the performance, and shortly afterwards, emailed Brant, saying "he heard an aria pushing through it" and thought it could be produced as an opera. Brant was asked to adapt his play into the libretto for the opera, though he had not worked on an opera before.[1] Tesori's previous operas include her 2019 work Blue. Outside of operas, she is an experienced composer of musicals, with her work including Shrek the Musical.[2]
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast – October 28, 2023 Conductor: Daniela Candillari |
|---|---|---|
| Jess | mezzo-soprano | Emily D'Angelo |
| Eric | tenor | Joseph Dennis |
| Commander | bass | Morris Robinson |
| Trainer | tenor | Frederick Ballentine |
| Sensor | baritone | Kyle Miller |
| Also Jess | soprano | Teresa Perrotta |
| Sam | child's voice | Willa Cook |
| Kill Chain: Mission Coordinator | tenor | Michael Butler |
| Kill Chain: Ground Control | tenor | Joshua Dennis |
| Kill Chain: Joint Terminal Attack Controller | baritone | Rob McGinness |
| Kill Chain: Safety Observer | baritone | Jonathan Patton |
| Kill Chain: Judge Advocate General | bass | Sergio Martínez |
Synopsis
The opera features the story of an American F-16 pilot who is grounded due to pregnancy after a brief relationship while on leave with a rancher from Wyoming. During her grounding, she controls Reaper drones from a base near Las Vegas, attacking distant targets. As a result of the drone warfare, her mental health suffers, and she is imprisoned after intentionally crashing a drone.[3]
Act One
Jess, a F-16 fighter pilot in the United States Air Force, is both an accomplished warrior and also the only woman in her squadron. While on leave from combat in Iraq, she meets the rancher Eric. They sleep together and fall in love before Jess returns to duty – and discovers she's pregnant.
Jess can either keep the baby or keep flying. Despite appeals from her Commander that she's invaluable to the squadron, she accepts the status DNIF, or "Duty Not Including Flying", and she and Eric soon welcome their daughter, Sam.
Eight years pass. Longing for the sky, Jess returns to her Commander, who, instead of sending her back to her beloved F-16, assigns her to pilot drones remotely, from a trailer near Las Vegas. Jess protests. But the Commander counters that since operators work 12-hour shifts and return to their families each night, Jess will get "war with all the benefits of home". She, Eric and Sam move to Las Vegas.
In the trailer, Jess adjusts to her new team: the Sensor, a teenage, former gaming champion who controls the drone's cameras; the Kill Chain, a chain of command that, via headset, assigns missions and approves strikes; and two stoic Observers. Initial tedium gives way to unexpected adrenaline rushes as Jess launches strikes. Meanwhile, Eric gets a job as a blackjack dealer. Jess begins encountering an eerie Drone Squadron and a second, dissociated version of herself.
Act Two
Jess and Sam are in the mall, surrounded by the free-sample-wielding Mall Squadron. In the dressing room, Jess fixates on who might be watching them through the mirror - and suddenly she's back in the trailer, only this time, her screen shows dying American soldiers. Noting her mounting distress, Eric encourages her to "clap off the game", a gesture he uses at the casino when clocking out.
But it's not that easy. On the one-year anniversary of Jess' arrival in the trailer, the Commander assigns her a high-profile mission: track the car suspected to hold target number two on the kill list, and once he steps out and is identified, strike. Jess' relentless pursuit of her target and the intense strain of the mission blur the already faint lines between war and her personal life; she believes a sleeping Sam to be dead, refuses to take off her flight suit after work, and mentally splits into herself and Also Jess during sex with Eric.
Finally, Jess tracks her target to his home – but he doesn't leave the car. As he drives off, a girl runs from the house, and the target springs from his car, waving her away: a positive identification. The Kill Chain orders the strike. But Jess, seeing Sam in the girl's place, intentionally crashes a Reaper drone. She is prosecuted and imprisoned after a court martial.
Performance history
The opera premiered at the Kennedy Center on October 28, 2023, in a co-production of Washington National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.[4] Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times praised Emily D'Angelo in the lead role as the pilot Jess as "perfectly cast", though he also wrote there was "nil chemistry" between her and her onstage husband Eric, performed by an "affable" Joseph Dennis. Woolfe went on to compare the opera unfavourably with Tesori's previous opera, Blue. He also disagreed with Peter Gelb's assertion that Grounded is "an anti-war opera", instead stating "the piece seems to say that war is OK; there are just better and worse — more and less authentic — ways of waging it.".[5]
Sponsor
On the announcement of the production by Washington National Opera, the opera's 'presenting sponsor' was listed as General Dynamics, a military contractor. After extensive criticism, Washington National Opera changed the webpage to list General Dynamics as a 'season sponsor', and also rewrote the opera's promotional text.[6] Despite this, General Dynamics were thanked alongside other sponsors on stage before the premiere performance at the Kennedy Center.[5]
References
- ↑ Ruf, Jessica. "A New Opera Examines the Perils of Modern Warfare". Washingtonian. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- ↑ Fairman, Richard (April 1, 2023). "Composer Jeanine Tesori: 'I want to write about subjects missing in the operatic canon'". Financial Times.
- ↑ "Washington National Opera Presents 'Grounded'". Kennedy Center. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- ↑ Salazar, Francisco. "Washington National Opera to Open Season with Grounded". Operawire. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- 1 2 Woolfe, Zachary (October 29, 2023). "Review: An Opera About Drones Brings a Pilot's War Home". The New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
- ↑ Hernandez, Javier. "A Drone Opera, Brought to You by General Dynamics? A Company Clarifies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2023.