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What Magic Reveals | STACY GARROP

STACY GARROP

a composer with a story to tell

a composer with a story to tell

What Magic Reveals


DETAILS
Running time: 17 minutes, 30 seconds
Music by Stacy Garrop
Libretto and Original Story by Jerre Dye
Commissioned by Chicago Opera Theater for the Vanguard Initiative
Composed in 2019

This opera is related to THE TRANSFORMATION OF JANE DOE.
Both operas share about 10 minutes of material.

ORDERING SCORES
Theodore Presser Company
Click to view product page

Stacks Image 6740

Photo by Eric Kirkes for Chicago Opera Theater

  • SYNOPSIS • TIME/PLACE
    SYNOPSIS
    In 1908, a young girl and her father go to a magic show in Chicago, where there’s more to the act than meets the eye.

    PLACE AND TIME
    This original story takes place at the Studebaker Theatre on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, and alternates between 1908 and 1920.
  • CAST • INSTRUMENTATION
    CAST
    • ABIGAIL (soprano) - daughter of Oskar

    • MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT (mezzo-soprano) - the memory of the magician’s assistant

    • TICKET TAKER (mezzo-soprano)

    • USHER (tenor)

    • OSKAR (baritone) - father of Abigail

    • MAGICIAN (bass baritone) - the memory of a seasoned showman


    INSTRUMENTATION
    piano (grand piano preferred)
    Stacks Image 6579

    Photo by Eric Kirkes
    for Chicago Opera Theater

  • FULL AUDIO OF PREMIERE

    AUDIO
    Please note that the opera is performed without any breaks. It has been divided below for ease of listening.

    1. No one saw it in the cards
    Chicago, 1920: Abigail, age 20, walks into the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, where she remembers a tragic afternoon when she was 8 years old.

    2. The magician’s marquee
    Chicago, 1908: In her memory, 8-year old Abigail and her father stand in front of the marquee outside the Studebaker, excited to see the French magician Monsieur Francois Miraculeaux and his beautiful assistant.

    3. Death by milk truck
    Chicago, 1920: Abigail reveals the tragic reason her father brought her to the magic show that fateful day.

    4. The magic show
    Chicago, 1908: In her memory, Abigail and her father watch the magician and his assistant perform a number of magic acts. When Abigail sees the assistant, she can’t shake the feeling she’s seen those eyes before.

    5. Vanished…gone…where to?
    Chicago, 1908: In her memory, Abigail asks her father what happened to her mother.

    6. No one saw it in the cards (reprise)
    Chicago, 1920: Abigail reprises her opening aria, wondering why her father concealed her mother’s death from her for so many years.


    PERFORMERS ON AUDIO
    Chicago Opera Theater Young Artists:
    Abigail - Samantha Schmid
    Ticket Taker/Magician’s Assistant - Emma Ritter
    Father - John Mathieu
    Usher/Magician - Ryan Stoll
    Piano - Josh Quinn
  • ARIA FOR CONCERT PERFORMANCE
    No one saw it in the cards
    • 2'15"
    • Aria for soprano
    • Synopsis: Chicago, 1920: A young woman walks into the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, where she remembers a tragic afternoon when she was 8 years old.
    • Video: Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano, and Stephen Alltop, piano

  • HELIOS • 4’30” • 2 tpts/flugelhorns, hn, tbn, tba

    AUDIO
    Gaudete Brass Quintet

    YEAR COMPOSED
    2011

    COMMISSIONER
    Gaudete Brass Quintet

    ORDERING SCORES
    Theodore Presser Company
    https://www.presser.com/114-41587-helios.html

    PROGRAM NOTES
    In Greek mythology, Helios was the god of the sun. His head wreathed in light, he daily drove a chariot drawn by four horses (in some tales, the horses are winged; in others, they are made of fire) across the sky. At the end of each day’s journey, he slept in a golden boat that carried him on the Okeanos River (a fresh water stream that encircled the flat earth) back to his rising place. The cyclic journey of Helios is depicted in this short work for brass quintet. The first half is fast-paced and very energetic, while the second half is slow and serene, representing day and night.
    -S.G.