Nixon in China (1987). John Adams /anti-dramatic love/

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Endless Possibilities after seeing a dress rehearsal of Nixon in China at the Metropolitan Opera:

I love how this opera is essentially anti-dramatic.  It’s about hopes unfulfilled and failure.  Its about a historical event that was basically a non event.  Think about the most ‘operatic’ moments in Nixon’s life that one could set an opera to, or all of the moments in Mao’s or Madame Mao’s lives that could be the set up for an opera of Otello proportions.  Nixon visiting China for some speeches and a dinner is not on that list.  This libretto, which might be my favorite of all Adams’ operas, really focuses on these famous people as human beings, and I find that enthralling

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