Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 7 October 2000 Conductor: Patrick Summers |
|---|---|---|
| Sister Helen Prejean, nun | mezzo-soprano | Susan Graham |
| Joseph De Rocher, convicted murderer | baritone | John Packard |
| Mrs. Patrick De Rocher, his mother | mezzo-soprano | Frederica von Stade |
| Her 19-year-old son | tenor | Eli Borggraefe |
| Her 14-year-old son | treble | Mario Sawaya |
| Sister Rose, colleague of Sister Helen | soprano | Theresa Hamm-Smith |
| Howard Boucher, father of the murdered boy | tenor | Gary Rideout |
| Jade Boucher, mother of the murdered boy | soprano | Catherine Cook |
| Owen Hart, father of the murdered girl | baritone | Robert Orth |
| Kitty Hart, mother of the murdered girl | soprano | Nicolle Foland |
| Father Grenville, chaplain at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) |
tenor | Jay Hunter Morris |
| George Benton, prison warden | baritone | John Ames |
| A Motor Cop | baritone | |
| First Prison Guard/A Motor Cop | baritone | David Okerlund |
| Second Prison Guard | baritone | Philip Horst |
| Sister Lillianne, colleague of Sister Helen | mezzo-soprano | Sally Mouzon |
| Sister Catherine, colleague of Sister Helen | Virginia Pluth | |
| A mother | Rachel Perry | |
| A Paralegal | Jim Croom | |
| Five inmates | Richard Walker, Daniel Harper, David Kekuewa, Frederick Winthrop, Frederick Matthews |
|
| Mrs. Charlton | Donita Volkwijn | |
| Jimmy Charlton | Jeremy Singletary | |
| Anthony De Rocher, Joseph's brother | silent role | David Tenenbaum |
| Boy, victim | silent role | Sean San Jose |
| Girl, victim | silent role | Dawn Walters |
| Orchestra | San Francisco Opera Orchestra | |
| Chorus | San Francisco Opera Chorus | |
| Production | Lotfi Mansouri | |
| Stage direction | Joe Mantello | |
| Set design | Michael Yeargen | |
| Costume design | Sam Fleming | |
| Lighting design | Jennifer Tipton | |
| Musical preparation | Bryndon Hassman, Adelle Eslinger, John Churchwell, Ernest Frederick Knell, Sara Jobin |
|
Read more about this topic: Dead Man Walking (opera)
Famous quotes containing the word roles:
“It was always the work that was the gyroscope in my life. I don’t know who could have lived with me. As an architect you’re absolutely devoured. A woman’s cast in a lot of roles and a man isn’t. I couldn’t be an architect and be a wife and mother.”
—Eleanore Kendall Pettersen (b. 1916)
“There is a striking dichotomy between the behavior of many women in their lives at work and in their lives as mothers. Many of the same women who are battling stereotypes on the job, who are up against unspoken assumptions about the roles of men and women, seem to accept—and in their acceptance seem to reinforce—these roles at home with both their sons and their daughters.”
—Ellen Lewis (20th century)
“Modern women are squeezed between the devil and the deep blue sea, and there are no lifeboats out there in the form of public policies designed to help these women combine their roles as mothers and as workers.”
—Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)