Think these are nerve-wracking times? It might help to remember that this high anxiety moment in history is just one more link in a long chain of such moments. Thereยs no better reminder of this nail–biting fact than John Adamsยs mesmerizing contemporary opera Doctor Atomic. The story follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, ยthe father of the atomic bomb,ย and his wife through the summer of 1945, the year the bomb was tested.
Adamsยs score is haunting and darkly gorgeous, and Peter Sellarsยs libretto is a wondrous collage of poetry from John Donne and Baudelaire and language from declassified U.S. government documents. But the best part of this Houston event is that itยs all coming live, in high definition, from the Metropolitan Opera in New York onto large movie screens throughout the city. Get the best seat in the opera house for a fraction of the cost today at noon. Various locations. For information, visit www.metoperafamily.org. $16 to $24.
Sat., Nov. 8, noon, 2008
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2008.