How DEAD MAN WALKING Became an Opera

WDCB’s Gary Zidek talks to Sister Helen Prejean, author of the 1993 best-seller DEAD MAN WALKING and Jake Heggie, the composer that brought the story to life on stage through music.

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WDCB's Gary Zidek talks to Sister Helen Prejean and composer Jake Heggie about DEAD MAN WALKING.

“I didn’t appreciate this fully before, I wasn’t a big opera (person). It’s a fullness of the arts, because first of all you have live drama happening on the stage, which brings people very close and then there’s music that instructs the heart as you go, and the music very powerful.” - Sister Helen Prejean talking about how opera can reach people in different ways than her book, DEAD MAN WALKING.

Sister Helen Prejean in Chicago

Twenty-six years ago, Sister Helen Prejean’s book DEAD MAN WALKING stimulated new conversations about the death penalty. Two years later in 1995, a critically praised film adaptation was nominated for four Academy Awards. Then in 2000, an opera based on DEAD MAN WALKING premiered to rave reviews in San Francisco.  That work will make its Chicago premiere in a new production at the Lyric Opera.

Composer Jake Heggie

“Every hair on my head went up, the hairs on my arms went up, I was on fire. I could feel music, I could feel ensembles and solos. I could imagine great singers inhabiting these roles. I could imagine the emotion being big enough to fill an opera house. I knew that it was a real American story that felt universal. It was very much of our time, but timeless. All things that spoke well to me, anyway, I was on fire with it immediately.” - composer Jake Heggie talking about his reaction when playwright/librettist Terrence McNally first brought up the idea of turning DEAD MAN WALKING into an opera.

Lyric Opera’s DEAD MAN WALKING will make its Chicago premiere Saturday November 2 - November 22. You can find more information at lyricopera.org