美国国家公共电台 NPR New Opera 'Blue' Takes On The Tragedy Of Police Brutality

 

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

Opera is an art form well-suited to big emotions and tragic¹ stories. Most are set in the past, but a new opera, "Blue," which premiered at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y., takes on a contemporary tragedy - the killing² of an unarmed black man at the hands of a police officer. Jeff Lunden has this report.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE³: "Blue" starts in silence. A young black man in a hoodie is center stage.

KENNETH KELLOGG: It's bigger than the hoodie, you know.

LUNDEN: Kenneth Kellogg plays him.

KELLOGG: It's a black man in a hoodie that's the issue.

LUNDEN: While ominous⁴ music plays, the young man is slowly surrounded by police. Is he going to be arrested? Is there going to be violence? No. He takes off the hoodie, changes his clothes and puts on a police uniform - a black man in blue.

KELLOGG: It sets an interesting tone for what's to come.

LUNDEN: Tazewell Thompson has written a libretto⁵ as well as directed "Blue." What's to come is an opera that takes on an elemental story about race in America. A young black couple falls in love and has a baby boy.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "BLUE")

KELLOGG: (As character) My son, my little baby boy...

LUNDEN: His son becomes a rebellious⁶ teenager.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "BLUE")

AARON CROUCH⁷: (As character) Got my own private (unintelligible) locked down.

LUNDEN: And he's shot and killed by a police officer at a protest. The second act of the opera explores the aftermath.

TAZEWELL THOMPSON: I knew that I wanted to write the story behind the story of the headline.

LUNDEN: Again, Tazewell Thompson.

THOMPSON: That was in my head all along. That was in my heart. That was in my system. I wanted that story - how it affects the family. I really wanted to get to know the parents. I wanted to get to know, who do the parents go to? Do they go to the church? How does the church respond? And what about their closest friends?

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "BLUE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, unintelligible).

LUNDEN: Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori has written the score for "Blue." When she and Tazewell Thompson began working on the opera, she suggested the father - none of the characters have names - be a police officer.

JEANINE TESORI: I haven't seen many stories about African American police officers and the incredible challenge that they face. And it's also Tazewell's story. This is deeply Tazewell's story.

LUNDEN: Tazewell Thompson lives in Harlem, where the opera is set. And he's had his own run-ins with the police.

THOMPSON: In my own neighborhood, I was frisked slammed against the wall. And then I had another incident where police officers surrounded me in a subway, and there was a mistaken identity. But I was scared. One police officer had his hand on his holster. And then when they realized they had the wrong person, they didn't say, oh, we're sorry. They said, stay out of trouble.

LUNDEN: In the opera, the son is embarrassed that his father is a police officer, and they bicker⁸. But the father wants him to be safe and gives him, quote, "the talk" about how to behave when he sees a cop.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "BLUE")

KELLOGG: (As character) In your life, that's what you're supposed to do.

LUNDEN: Thompson spoke⁹ with both black police officers and parents as he wrote the opera.

THOMPSON: Every parent that I interviewed - black parents - they have this talk with their sons at a very young age.

(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "BLUE")

KELLOGG: (As character) Take off the hoodie. Take off the hoodie, the hoodie, the hoodie, the hoodie, the hoodie. Son, you are black - a walking moving target - a black boy.

CROUCH: (As character) That's exactly what I am.

LUNDEN: But despite the talk, the son becomes a victim of police violence. It deliberately¹⁰ happens offstage, says composer Jeanine Tesori.

TESORI: We always knew we didn't want this. This mustn't be on stage. But it really is about possibility denied and the aftermath and the costs and the consequence for everyone and that you understand the ripple¹¹ effect.

BRIANA HUNTER: Performing this comes at a cost, I think, to all of us. It's one that we all think is worth paying.

LUNDEN: Mezzo-soprano Briana Hunter plays the anguished¹² mother in "Blue."

HUNTER: Very rarely do we get to so directly communicate our feelings about what's going on in the world. It's allowed us to kind of grieve and process a lot of trauma¹³.

LUNDEN: And she says she hopes audiences who see the opera can process those feelings, too. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden.

1 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

5 libretto   

n.歌剧剧本，歌曲歌词

参考例句：

• The printed libretto was handsomely got up.这本印刷的歌剧剧本装帧得很美观。
• On the other hand,perhaps there is something to be said for the convenience of downloading a libretto in one's own home rather than looking for it in a library or book store.但是反过来看，或许尤为重要的是如果网

6 rebellious   

adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的

参考例句：

• They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反，他们就要发生危险。
• Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和，但她的心里十分反感。

7 crouch   

v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏

参考例句：

• I crouched on the ground.我蹲在地上。
• He crouched down beside him.他在他的旁边蹲下来。

8 bicker   

vi.(为小事)吵嘴，争吵

参考例句：

• The two children used to bicker about who should do the washing-up.这两个小孩子过去常为该由谁洗餐具一事而争吵。
• They always bicker when they meet at school.在学校见面时他们总是争吵。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

11 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

12 anguished   

adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式)

参考例句：

• Desmond eyed her anguished face with sympathy. 看着她痛苦的脸，德斯蒙德觉得理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The loss of her husband anguished her deeply. 她丈夫的死亡使她悲痛万分。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。