The first show was Champion, and it was fantastic. It's a world premiere performance at Opera Theater St. Louis, and E actually got to see the opening show when she was in town last Saturday evening. It's the true story of Emile Griffith, who became world welterweight champion in a title bout that cost his opponent, Benny "The Kid" Paret, his life.
The show was masterfully written, with old Emile, crippled by brain damage, reflecting on the poor choices his younger, uneducated self made during his glory days.
The opera is so complex, covering issues of regret, personal development, forgiveness, homosexuality and homophobia, aging, and the often unpredictable price we pay for our actions. But as both a true and a fairly contemporary story, it brings a certain gravity that I think is lost in some of the more classic operas, just because they seem a little bit unreal.
I've seen some great operas, but the only one that's ever moved me to tears was Madame Butterfly, which I saw at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. At least that was true until this past Wednesday.
I was teary-eyed, too!
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