Hell — Michael Webster

Opera in one act. Libretto by Eileen Myles. Music by Michael Webster.

“HELL employs frank and lyrical language and an exalted baroque style to tear away the veils obscuring corporate silence and global disaster. Inspired by Dante’s Inferno and post-9/11 events, it takes up an elegiac and musical cudgel on behalf of free speech and sings out against the endless waging of war.”
— Andy Horwitz, Culturebot (2006)

2004 — St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, New York

Directed by Simon Leung and Laurie Weeks. Sets by Beth Stephens. Costumes by Milena Muzquiz. Design by Neil Stuber. Presented by People’s Opera.
Cast: Juliana Snapper, James Rio, Scott Graff, Jason Snyder, Debra Penberthy, Tany Ling, Angela Claverie, Doo Suk Yang
September 22 & 29, 2004

Hell at St. Marks Church — ensemble and set

Photos: Beth Stephens

2006 — PS122, New York

Directed by David Chambers. Conducted by Jonathan Yates. Produced by Beth Morrison Projects.
Cast: Juliana Snapper (Raphael), David Adam Moore (Lewis), Matthew Chellis (Brine), Danielle Freeman (The Frog), Michael Turay (The Gnome), Patrick Cook (Father Tree), Janna Baty (Dorothy / Raphael cover), Amy Bils
March 31–April 9, 2006

Performances

2006 — Performance Space 122 (PS122), New York — 11 performances
2004 — St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, New York — Sep 22 & 29
2004 — Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles
2004 — Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
2004 — Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT), Mexico

Press

WNYC Leonard Lopate Show — interview with Eileen Myles, Michael Webster, and Julianna Snapper
Culturebot — “funny, tragic, intelligent and it actually says something”
James Wagner — “the most successful video/stage integration”