
Based on the famous memoir of Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls follows Arenas’ life from childhood poverty in the Cuban countryside to his emigration to the United States in the 1980 Mariel boat-lift and his last decade in New York City.
The opera follows his trials and tribulations as a political prisoner disillusioned by the Cuban Revolution and persecuted by the Castro regime as a dissident writer and homosexual who was forced to smuggle his manuscripts abroad for publication.
In 2000, Before Night Falls was made into an award-winning feature film directed by Julian Schnabel and starring Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp.
CAST | |
Reinaldo Arenas | Elliot Madore* |
Ovidio | Dinyar Vania* |
Victor | Calvin Griffin |
Lazaro | Michael Kuhn |
Pepe/Port/Visa Official | Javier Abreu |
Mother/The Sea | Elizabeth Caballero |
The Moon | Melissa Fajardo |
Peasant’s Mother | Laura León |
Conductor | Christopher Allen* |
Director | David Gately |
Production | Fort Worth Opera |
* = FGO debut |
Sung in English and Spanish with projected titles in both languages
For more information on the Florida Grand Opera please click, here.