And That's It

an opera
in a very large number of acts

Chorus of 5 Sopranos and 5 Baritones

Orchestra of 42 soloists

3 Dancers, 3 Signers

Lighting, Flats, Film/video, Costumes

Program Booklets, Surtitles, Web Sites

• is an opera that explodes the tragi-comic contemporaneity of history, of consequences (mostly tragic) and possibilities (mostly comic). The music, set, costumes, lighting and libretto work together in patterns of controlled chaos, to form a surface of anachronistically dynamic historical and contemporary events--the "IT" that's the very "it" in which we are all trying to find our way. The opera sets up a somewhat static montage in Part I, "IT: W'EASTORN CIV," in which the characters move about attempting to fix bugs and make renovations even as the turbulence of history swirls about them. No heroes emerge. In Part II, "AND: -TRN CV CNTNG," the tragic turns toward the comic as an instruction manual (not for mere survival, but for taking pleasure in possibilities) is invented and enacted--a sung, danced and signed future called "AND".

• Dot (coloratura)monitors beginnings and endings of historical cum musical events, in search of connections.
• DeDe (soprano), androgynous revolutionary, wears a power drill, chief architect of instruction manual for the "AND" of Part II.
• Côm (contralto): rose-carrying great communicator, communist, and commuter.
• Clinamen, nickname "Swerve" (tenor), clumsy instigator of accidental collisions and sudden swerves that lead to surprising possibilities for change in otherwise regular patterns.
• Örg (baritone), object-oriented programmer, roams the physical and conceptual framework of the opera finding and fixing bugs; the influence of his efforts is to seem to make the theater appear modular, repeatable, and susceptible to intentional change.
• Édu (basso profundo), flipped-out scholar, undergoes imaginative figure-ground shift (made visible in video and surtitle episodes), the carrier of salvageable wisdom to Part II.
• -Ing, -Ed and -S, played by the 6 silent singers of signs (the 3 dancers and 3 signers).

• 2Fl(Picc, Alto) 2Ob(2EH) 3Cl(1E , 2BCl) 3Bsn(1CBsn)
• 4Sax(SATB)
• 2Hn 1Trp 2Trb 2Tba
• Harp
• 2Perc 2Timp
• 5Vn 3Va 4Vc 4Cb

• A large lighting rig with large capacity computer control
• Flies for the painted flats, film/video screens, small props
• Platforms, steps, ladders and causeways for perambulations of the singers, dancers, signers, musicians; and a stage crew that can manipulate these during the performance
• Surtitle rig with multiple projectors and movable screens
• Multichannel sound system
• Changeable costumes and costume props for 6 soloists, 6 dancers/signers, chorus of 10

• Opera@anarchicharmony.org