Dead Man Walking highlights

Dead Man Walking highlights
Summary: "How would you feel if someone killed your son? How would you feel if your daughter killed someone? The death penalty is not abstract, nor is it black and white. 'And Then One Night: The Making of Dead Man Walking' addresses the subject as no news report has, revealing the emotional depth that music and stories can bring to a critical public question. The documentary brings opera to new audiences, bridging art and social issues in a way never explored before.

"The San Francisco Opera's controversial new commission, 'Dead Man Walking,' follows the journey of a Louisiana nun, Sister Helen Prejean, to the heart of the death penalty debate. For over a year, director/producer Linda Schaller joined forces with the San Francisco Opera to trace the collaborative processes of this provocative new opera. The selection of a composer, writer and stage director who had never created an opera before only added to the controversy. Schaller's production crew even followed singer John Packard, who played the death row inmate, into Louisiana's Angola State Prison to capture his character and location research. Through such intimate behind-the-scenes moments, the opera's development unfolds, illuminating its powerful themes of crime, punishment, redemption and forgiveness.

"'And Then One Night' transforms the typical 'making of' format by weaving the multiple threads of the opera's creation process with scenes from its world premiere performance as well as the stories of people whose personal tragedies the opera reflects. Schaller's decision to intercut real-life families of victims and death row inmates to mirror the opera's characters was critical to portraying diverse perspectives and presenting the death penalty debate as profoundly human. This is not just a theatrical situation. It happens everyday. The stories could easily become our own.

"As with the opera, the documentary does not take a stance for or against the death penalty. Its purpose is to take viewers on their own journey through the music into their personal beliefs on capital punishment and the pain of loss. Sister Helen Prejean says it best, 'Art helps us explore alternatives, to make new choices and brings us to that deeper place to do that.'"--2001 Peabody Awards entry form.

This is an audio CD with highlights from the opera.

Corporate Producers: San Francisco Opera | KQED-TV (Television station : San Francisco, Calif.)

Persons Appearing: Angela Bassett (Narrator) | Susan Graham (Cast (Sister Helen Prejean)) | John Packard (Cast (Joe de Rocher)) | Frederica Von Stade (Cast (Joseph's mother)) | Robert Orth (Cast (Owen Hart)) | Nicole Foland (Cast (Kitty Hart)) | Catherine Cook (Cast (Jade Boucher)) | Gary Rideout (Cast (Howard Boucher)) | David Okerlund (Cast (A motor cop; First prison guard)) | Jay Hunter Morris (Cast (Father Grenville)) | John Ames (Cast (George Benton)) | Phillip Horst (Cast (Second prison guard)) | Patrick Summers (Conductor)

Broadcast Date: 2001