DETROIT, Mo., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and composer Richard Danielpour have been asked to collaborate on an opera based on the life of a fugitive Kentucky slave who killed her infant daughter and tried to kill herself when faced with the prospect of returning to slavery.
The Michigan Opera Theatre's estimated $1.5 million production of "Margaret Garner" is expected to premiere in May 2005 at the Detroit Opera House and feature mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. After the Detroit premiere, the show is expected to be put on by the Cincinnati Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia, which are partnering in the development.
Morrison based her 1987 novel, "Beloved," on the same story.
The opera is to include a slave auction, Garner's escape and capture, the killing of two of her children and a courtroom trial. The story presents a bizarre legal question: Was Garner a "free" woman when recaptured and guilty of murder charge or a slave and guilty only property destruction.
Developers envision a half-black, half-white cast with segregated choruses that sing together only at the very end. Danielpour said the music will draw on spirituals and work songs but not mimic black music.
