Brief
Missy Mazzoli’s opera adapts George Saunders’ ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ for the Met
Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek bring George Saunders’ novel to the stage in a world‑premiere at the Metropolitan Opera.
By Felo News Desk · Published
The Metropolitan Opera is staging the world premiere of a new opera based on George Saunders’ Booker‑Prize‑winning novel Lincoln in the Bardo. Composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek have adapted the story, which unfolds in Georgetown’s Oakhill Cemetery and follows Abraham Lincoln’s mourning of his son Willie.
What happened
The production opens with a graveyard setting populated by restless spirits who refuse to accept their deaths. The ghosts, referred to as “sick‑boxes,” eventually find peace after acknowledging their true state, culminating in a fireworks‑like “matterlightblooming” sequence invented by Saunders. Throughout the opera, characters ranging from tragic to comic share their life stories, while Lincoln, paralyzed by grief, visits his son’s crypt and cradles the boy’s body.
What the reports add
According to The Independent, Vavrek described the libretto as “heavy but also so effervescent, quite hilarious at times.” Director Lileana Blain‑Cruz emphasized that the work “honors that life is not all doom and gloom,” noting the characters’ desires, humor and “fullness of life.” Mazzoli said the biggest challenge was writing music about a dead child, and she solved it by focusing on Willie’s final aria in which he declares, “All is allowed me now… Now that I’m dead I can go down to the party, I can fly out the window, I can hang from the chandelier, I can drink rum.”
What was said
Royce Vavrek told The Independent that the opera is “quite heavy” but also “effervescent, quite hilarious at times.” Lileana Blain‑Cruz, the director, said the piece shows “people have desires and hungers, and we’re silly and we’re funny.” Missy Mazzoli explained, “When I’m writing, there’s a period of years where I’m alone with these characters… I really tried to inhabit the character of this boy, but it’s hard to enter that place every day.”
How it came about
George Saunders’ novel, which won the 2017 Booker Prize, inspired the opera’s concept of the bardo – the Tibetan Buddhist interval between death and rebirth. Mazzoli and Vavrek collaborated to translate the novel’s blend of grief, humor and supernatural elements into a musical format, culminating in the Met’s first staging of the work.
Key facts
- Missy Mazzoli composed the music for the new opera based on George Saunders’ novel. (independent.co.uk)
- Royce Vavrek wrote the libretto and described it as both heavy and effervescent. (independent.co.uk)
- The world premiere will be staged at the Metropolitan Opera. (independent.co.uk)
- Director Lileana Blain‑Cruz said the opera honors life’s fullness despite its grim setting. (independent.co.uk)
- Willie Lincoln’s final aria imagines freedom after death, according to Mazzoli. (independent.co.uk)
Sources
- [1] independent.co.uk — originally reported as “'Lincoln in the Bardo' leaps from book to stage in Missy Mazzoli's new opera”
