Grounded (opera)

Grounded is an English-language opera with music by Jeanine Tesori and libretto by George Brant. The libretto is adapted from Brant's play of the same name.

Grounded
Opera by Jeanine Tesori
LibrettistGeorge Brant
LanguageEnglish
Based onGrounded (a play by George Brant)
Premiere
October 28, 2023 (2023-10-28)
Kennedy Center, Washington

Background

The play Grounded premiered in New York in 2014. Paul Cremo of the Metropolitan Opera attended the performance, and shortly afterwards, emailed Brant, saying "he heard an aria pushing through it" and thought it could be produced as an opera. Brant was asked to adapt his play into the libretto for the opera, though he had not worked on an opera before.[1] Tesori's previous operas include her 2019 work Blue. Outside of operas, she is an experienced composer of musicals, with her work including Shrek the Musical.[2]

Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast – October 28, 2023
Conductor: Daniela Candillari
Jess mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo
Eric tenor Joseph Dennis
Commander bass Morris Robinson
Trainer tenor Frederick Ballentine
Sensor baritone Kyle Miller
Also Jess soprano Teresa Perrotta
Sam child's voice Willa Cook
Kill Chain: Mission Coordinator tenor Michael Butler
Kill Chain: Ground Control tenor Joshua Dennis
Kill Chain: Joint Terminal Attack Controller baritone Rob McGinness
Kill Chain: Safety Observer baritone Jonathan Patton
Kill Chain: Judge Advocate General bass Sergio Martínez

Synopsis

The opera features the story of an American F-16 pilot who is grounded due to pregnancy. During her grounding, she controls drones, attacking distant targets. As a result of the drone warfare, her mental health suffers.[3]

Act One

Jess, a F-16 fighter pilot in the United States Air Force, is both an accomplished warrior and also the only woman in her squadron. While on leave from combat in Iraq, she meets the rancher Eric. They sleep together and fall in love before Jess returns to duty – and discovers she's pregnant.

Jess can either keep the baby or keep flying. Despite appeals from her Commander that she's invaluable to the squadron, she accepts the status DNIF, or "Duty Not Including Flying", and she and Eric soon welcome their daughter, Sam.

Eight years pass. Longing for the sky, Jess returns to her Commander, who, instead of sending her back to her beloved F-16, assigns her to pilot drones remotely, from a trailer near Las Vegas. Jess protests. But the Commander counters that since operators work 12-hour shifts and return to their families each night, Jess will get "war with all the benefits of home". She, Eric and Sam move to Las Vegas.

In the trailer, Jess adjusts to her new team: the Sensor, a teenage, former gaming champion who controls the drone's cameras; the Kill Chain, a chain of command that, via headset, assigns missions and approves strikes; and two stoic Observers. Initial tedium gives way to unexpected adrenaline rushes as Jess launches strikes. Meanwhile, Eric gets a job as a blackjack dealer. Jess begins encountering an eerie Drone Squadron and a second, dissociated version of herself, Also Jess.

Act Two

Jess and Sam are in the mall, surrounded by the free-sample-wielding Mall Squadron. In the dressing room, Jess fixates on who might be watching them through the mirror - and suddenly she's back in the trailer, only this time, her screen shows dying American soldiers. Noting her mounting distress, Eric encourages her to "clap off the game", a gesture he uses at the casino when clocking out.

But it's not that easy. On the one-year anniversary of Jess' arrival in the trailer, the Commander assigns her a high-profile mission: track the car suspected to hold target number two on the kill list, and once he steps out and is identified, strike. Jess' relentless pursuit of her target and the intense strain of the mission blur the already faint lines between war and her personal life; she believes a sleeping Sam to be dead, refuses to take off her flight suit after work, and mentally splits into herself and Also Jess during sex with Eric.

Finally, Jess tracks her target to his home – but he doesn't leave the car. As he drives off, a girl runs from the house, and the target springs from his car, waving her away: a positive identification. The Kill Chain orders the strike. But Jess, seeing Sam in the girl's place, does everything in her power to save her child.

Performance history

The opera premiered at the Kennedy Center on October 28, 2023, in a co-production of Washington National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.[4]

On the announcement of the production by Washington National Opera, the opera's 'presenting sponsor' was listed as General Dynamics, a military contractor. After extensive criticism, Washington National Opera changed the webpage to list General Dynamics as a 'season sponsor', and also rewrote the opera's promotional text.[5]

References

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