I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky

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Work data
Original title: I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky
Original language: English
Music: John Adams
Libretto : June Jordan
Premiere: May 3, 1995
Place of premiere: University of California, Berkeley , Zellerbach Theater
Playing time: about 2 hours
Place and time of the action: Los Angeles , 1994
people
  • David, a black Baptist chief ( tenor )
  • Leila, a black student who works as a sex counselor in an abortion clinic ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Consuelo, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, mother of two children ( soprano )
  • Mike, a white cop who is also socially committed ( baritone )
  • Dewain, a refined black gang leader (baritone)
  • Tiffany, a white local TV reporter (mezzo-soprano)
  • Rick, a lawyer of Vietnamese origin, acts as a defense attorney for aid recipients (operative part)

According to the libretto, all protagonists should not be older than 25 years.

I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky is a song play in two acts from 1995. The music was composed by John Adams , the lyrics by the poet and activist June Jordan . One of the initiators was the director Peter Sellars , who also directed the world premiere production.

The play takes place in Los Angeles and tells about seven young people of different social and ethnic origins; as a result of the 1994 earthquake , their intertwined personal stories each take a decisive turn.

action

Seven young people struggle with their place in life and with love: The Baptist chief David would like to own all women and is sharply criticized by Leila for his constant sexual escapades. In her counseling center, Leila tries to persuade the immigrant Consuelo to use contraception. Consuelo is illegal in the USA, has had traumatic experiences in El Salvador and lives in constant fear of state power. She has a baby with ex-gangsta Dewain, who has just gotten out of jail again. To reassure Consuelo, whose older son did not come home, Dewain takes two bottles of beer to a shop - without paying. The cop Mike, accompanied by the reporter Tiffany, arrests him. Under California's three-strike rule , Dewain faces a potentially life sentence. Rick, Dewain's attorney, doesn't do much in court; he tries to prove that the witnesses Mike and Tiffany had malicious motives and, in return, is cursed by Tiffany because of his origin. Tiffany is frustrated: her love for Mike inexplicably goes unrequited. Dewain, supported by David and Leila, begins to deal with law while in custody.

Contrary to expectations, David takes a deep, more lasting affection for Leila. Just as both are indulging in love, an earthquake shakes the city, destroys streets and buildings, and interrupts supplies. Leila is badly injured and David tries to take care of her. Mike fights his way to Tiffany's apartment. Tiffany confronts him with the weirdness of their relationship and suddenly realizes the reason: The outwardly tough cop must be gay. Mike initially rejects the idea and gets into an argument with Rick, who has fallen in love with Tiffany in court and now appears at her too. Tiffany realizes that there is nothing wrong with her. Tiffany and Rick approach each other, Mike begins to accept himself. Dewain escapes the shattered prison; Consuelo asks him to go with her to El Salvador, where she now wants to fight for the rights of her people. But he decides to stay, they both part.

Music numbers

first act

  • Ensemble - I Was Looking At the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky
  • A Sermon on Romance (David's Solo)
  • Leila's Song of the Wise Young Woman
  • Solo in Sunlight (Dewain's First Solo)
  • ¿Donde Estás?
  • Mike's Song About Arresting a Particular Individual
  • Tiffany's solo
  • Song About the On-Site Altercation
  • Song About the Bad Boys and the News
  • Your Honor My Client He's a Young Black Man (Rick's Solo)
  • Consuelo's Dream
  • Rick's Cross-Examination of Tiffany and Mike
  • Song About Law School as the Natural Follow-Up to Jail
  • Leila's Song: Alone (Again or At Last)
  • Song About the Sweet Majority Population of the World

Second act

  • Earthquake
  • Three Weeks and Still I'm Outta My Mind
  • Crushed by the Rock l Been Standing On
  • Duet in the Middle of Terrible Duress
  • Dewain's Song of Liberation and Surprise
  • Esté País / This Country
  • One Last Look at the Angel in Your Eyes
  • final

Songs originally contained in the first act but deleted in a later revision :

  • A Man Among Men
  • Interim (Mike)
  • Rick's Awkward Love Song

text

In June Jordan's original text, metrically strict forms (e.g. “Consuelo's Dream”) are in the minority. Free, only partially or irregularly rhymed verses predominate, which are based on natural speech and sometimes use everyday expressions, slang and official language. Overall, the language is densely worked and interspersed with many images, it uses many poetic means such as internal rhymes, assonances or alliterations.

music

Stylistically, the work is somewhere between opera and musical .

As the (English) genre in the subtitle already expresses, the entire plot of the piece develops within the framework of a sequence of songs; There are no sections without musical accompaniment or singing.

Typical stylistic features of minimal music , of which John Adams is considered to be a representative, can be found primarily in purely instrumental passages (e.g. in the opening), in the accompaniment and in sections where dialogue and action predominate. The vocal declamation is strongly based on the speech melody and rhythmically notated in a differentiated way. There are also forms based on certain song types and pop idioms such as rock ballad, close harmony, funk, bebop, blues or Latin.

Instrumentation: clarinet in Bb (alternates with bass clarinet); Alto saxophone; 3 keyboard players (keyboard I alternates with piano); Guitar (alternates with electric guitar); Double bass (alternates with electric bass); Drum set (also MIDI percussion).

Duration: approx. 2 hours.

Productions

  • First performance at the Zellerbach Theater, University of California, Berkeley : previews from May 3, 1995, premiere on May 11, 1995, performances until May 21, 1995; presented by Cal Performances; Director: Peter Sellars; musical direction: Grant Gershon ; Band: Paul Dresher Ensemble; Costumes: Dunya Ramicova; Light: James Ingalls; Cast: Kaitlin Hopkins (Tiffany), Jesse Means / Darius de Haas (David), Michael Ness (Mike), Harold Perrineau, Jr. / Jerry Dixon (Dewain), Kennya Ramsey (Leila), Sophia Salguero (Consuelo), Welly Yang (Rick); Follow-up performances in 1995 in Montréal, New York (Lincoln Center), at the Edinburgh Festival, Helsinki Festival and Festival d'Automne.
  • German premiere at the Thalia Theater Hamburg: Premiere on October 21, 1995 in the world premiere production with the Avanti! Ensemble.
  • Theater Gera : Premiere on January 27, 1998; Director: Frank Olschowsky; musical direction: Erik Kross.
  • Southwark Warehouse, London: premiered October 30, 1998; Director: Caroline Sharman; musical direction: John Jansson; with subsequent performances in Huddersfield and at the Royal Opera House Studio, London.
  • Lyric Opera Cleveland, Ohio premiered July 31, 2002; Directed by Jonathon Field; musical direction: Mary Chun.
  • Young Opera Company Freiburg: Premiere on January 17, 2004; Director: Joachim Rathke; musical direction: Klaus Simon .
  • Theater Royal Stratford East, London (co-production with the London Barbican): premiere on July 2, 2010; Directors: Kerry Michael and Matthew Xia; musical direction: Clark Rundell .
  • Théâtre du Châtelet , Paris: premiere on June 11, 2013; Director: Giorgio Barberio Corsetti; musical direction: Alexander Briger (taken over by the Rome Opera in the Teatro Costanzi in September 2015).
  • Long Beach Opera at Ford Amphitheater, Los Angeles: Premiere on August 23, 2014; Direction and musical direction: Andreas Mitisek (first performance in Los Angeles).

Recordings

  • Studio cast (1996/97, excerpts): Audra McDonald , Michael McElroy, Welly Yang, Angela Teek, Darius de Haas, Marin Mazzie, Richard Muenz / Avanti! Ensemble / Conductor: John Adams (Nonesuch 79473-2, 1 CD; re-release 1999 as part of the "John Adams Earbox", Nonesuch 79453-2).
  • Complete recording (2004): Soloists of the Young Opera Company Freiburg: Martina Mühlpointner, Kimako Xavier Trotman, Markus Alexander Neisser, Jeannette Friedrich, Darius de Haas, Lilith Gardell, Jonas Holst / Band of Holst-Sinfonietta / Conductor: Klaus Simon (Naxos 8.669003- 04, 2 CDs).

expenditure

Resonances

“Ceiling… Sky belongs to no category but its own, yet resonates with its roots in opera and musicals. You can find conscious or unconscious references to everything from Don Giovanni's' Catalog Aria, 'when Leila taunts David with a list of his conquests' names, to Hair, with a symmetrical pairing of men's and women's ensembles singing about the wonders of sex. In the latter, 'Song About the Bad Boys and the News,' the three singers team up for an angelic hymn and then break into a no-holds-barred paean– fusing Motown, gospel, a stride bass, and polyrhythms– to the male body… The men's fabulously filthy 'Song About the Sweet Majority of the World' is a hip-grinding hilarious gem with a sexy slow groove and Hammond organ-like funk progressions. But if in Ceiling… Sky we hear echoes of various genres, the music is both warmly familiar and also entirely original. "

- Sarah Cahill : East Bay Express, May 19, 1995

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ quoted from http://www.earbox.com/sarah-cahill-on-ceiling-sky/