Night of the Living Opera
Zombies have stalked the imagination since William Seabrook’s 1929 account of Haitian voodou, The Magic Island, but they arrived in the familiar form known today only with George Romero’s 1968 cult film, Night of the Living Dead. Romero reworked his idea of zombies as a mindless, all-devouring horde several times and inspired other filmmakers—and performing artists.
In Milwaukee, the Angry Young Men puppet troupe performed their version of Night of the Living Dead as a Halloween show at Next Act Theatre pre-pandemic. Angry Young puppeteer Josh Perkins married opera singer-Milwaukee Opera Theatre veteran Julianne Perkins and moved to Colorado where they met composer Andrew Dewey. The music for Night of the Living Opera was composed by Dewey with a libretto by Josh that follows the screenplay with several digressions. Julianne is credited as cocreator. “They became interested in cocreating something and circled back to Milwaukee Opera Theatre” says MOT’s Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik.
That something, Night of the Living Opera, will be presented as a staged reading later this month. Like several other productions in MOT’s past, including last season’s L’Orfeo with Aperi Animam, the production is developed as a process with an initial staged reading followed a year later by a full-dress concert. “It gives people who have a creative idea a deadline—but it’s OK if it’s incomplete. It’s a way for the creators to see their idea in action and get feedback, if they want it,” Ponasik says. She hopes to stage the full-dress opera at Halloween in 2023.
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“My favorite thing was when the composer said, ‘The zombie chorus is a descending minor 3rd,’” Ponasik continues. “I’ve been really pleased by the way the music features the voice. It doesn’t sound derivative to me. It’s tonal. If I had to put it in a category, I’d say it’s cinematic in its sweeping expressivity. There will be electronics creating otherworldly sounds”—and simulating the static and wavering signals of the broadcasts by which the human holdouts against the zombies try to make sense of the catastrophe sweeping across the world. It’s a perfect parable for the post-pandemic.
For the staged reading, however, musical accompaniment will be limited to piano with the full orchestral arrangement to debut next year. But at the reading, Angry Young Men will handle the full-size puppets representing the zombies; there will be shadow puppetry, a cast of six actors and a chorus of four singers.
Night of the Living Opera will be performed Oct. 28-30 at the Broadway Theatre Center Studio Theatre. For tickets and more information, visit milwaukeeoperatheatre.org.
