LEE HOIBY

Summer
and Smoke
Opera in Two Acts, libretto by Lanford Wilson,
based on the play by Tennessee Williams

Manhattan School of
Music Opera Theatre
Steven Osgood
conductor

WORLD PREMIERE
RECORDING
Summer and Smoke
Opera in One Act PROGRAM NOTES.........................................Jane V. Jaffe
Music........................................Lee Hoiby In 1964, playwright Tennessee Williams, who had
Libretto.......................... . Lanford Wilson regularly refused to grant permission for A Streetcar
(Based on the play by Tennessee Williams) Named Desire to be set as an opera, was so impressed by
Conductor........................Steven Osgood Hoiby’s Natalia Petrovna (later renamed A Month in the
Stage Director................. Dona D. Vaughn Country and recorded by MSM for Albany), that he
Opera Producer..............Gordon Ostrowski asked the composer if he would like to make an opera
PREMIERE RECORDING from one of his plays. “I was stunned,” said Hoiby,” and
C A S T:
Alma Winemiller................Anna Viemeister I asked Williams which play he’d like me to use. ‘Take
your pick,’ said he.”
John Buchanan...............Nickoli Strommer
Hoib y re-read the plays, but decided against the
Nellie............................... .Audean Farmer
ultra-famous Streetcar, Glass Menagerie or Cat on a
Reverend Winemiller.........Robert E. Mellon
Hot Tin Roof. “I kept coming back to his 1948 Summer
Mrs. Winemiller................... .Claire Coolen
and Smoke, with its changing moods, continual shifts
Mrs. Bassett.....................Samatha Korbey of feeling from innocent to casual, gritty to demented,
Rosemary............ Anna Christina Lawrence comic, pathetic, violent, anguished, desparate, heart-
Roger..................................... Chris Lucier breaking—all very singable feelings.
Vernon........................Michael O’Halloran “Music is heard in many of Williams’ plays, and in
Rosa.....................María Leticia Hernández Summer and Smoke there are a Victorian song (which I
Papa Gonzales......................Steve Gokool call my Lillian Russell song), a marching band, and several
Dr. Buchanan...................Salim Paul Abed mariachi-type numbers heard offstage. In the opera,
Stranger.......................... Brian Wahlstrom these offer a dramatic contrast to the orchestra in the
Young Alma.....................Chloë Niemann pit, a device borrowed from Mozart b y Verdi, from
Young John.............................Sam Rodd Verdi by Berg—and one which I could not resist.
“In the end, however, it was Alma who captured me.
ENSEMBLE: Josh Agosto, Satchell Beer,
Alma Winemiller, the repressed virgin, the minister’s
Sophia Benedetti, Heather Boaz, Nicholas
Connolly, Lindsey Fraser, Allyson Herman, daughter, custodian of a mad mother—Alma, eaten up
Greg Hoyt, Briana Hunter, Ivan Miller, by longing for the boy next door, but denying her sensual
Matthew Montana, Jonathan Myers, Vera feelings, holding those inner pressures in check behind a
Rees, and Nicole Weigelt. mask of gentility until they become her phantom double,

■2■
her ‘Doppelgänger.’ We see her in combat with those
feelings. Only when it is too late does she realize the
fatal game she has played. In the end, she cannot even
sing any more—she only speaks in the Epilogue.”
Hoiby found the ideal librettist in successful play-
wright Lanford Wilson. “The libretto he fashioned for
me sings itself. Composing the music was a breeze. A
lovely, three-year-long breeze.” Wilson’s libretto adheres
to Williams’ play, incorporating many of its memorable
lines. Hoiby set the text in a Puccini-esque flow of dia-
logue and lyrical phrases that often expand into arias.
The scenes, however, are almost separate vignettes, each
chronicling a meeting between Alma and John. Working
with the soul-versus-flesh duality of Alma’s character,
Hoiby ingeniously uses the four-note chromatic motive
of Franz Schubert’s famous art song Der Doppelgänger
to represent her throughout the opera.
Summer and Smoke was premiered on June 19, 1971,
by the St. Paul Opera which commissioned the work,
with soprano Mary Beth Piel and baritone John Rear-
don in the lead roles, conducted by Igor Buketoft and
directed by Frank Corsaro. Its success led to a pro-
duction with the New York City Opera, which gave
three sold-out performances the following year. That
March, Miss Piel revived her role for Chicago Opera
Theater’s production, which was later broadcast on
PBS-TV. The work has been presented in many sub-
sequent American productions.
Summer and Smoke’s skillful combination of
sung and spoken passages, sadness and irony, and lush
orchestral accompaniment have kept the work in the
public’s consciousness. With atonality’s stranglehold
loosened in recent decades, Hoiby declared himself
optimistic about opera’s future in America—which
should translate into more frequent performances of
this and his other operas, ensuring his legacy.

Lee Hoiby , Composer; Lanford Wilson , Librettist; Tennessee Williams , Playwright; Dona D. Vaughn , Stage Director

Producer’s Note—Albany Music sadly reports the March 2011 passing of composer Lee Hoiby, just prior to this
CD’s June 2011 release. Lee and Mark were active in the lovely MSM production and the subsequent recording
of Summer and Smoke. All involved respectfully dedicate this project to Lee’s memory. John Ostendorf

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PLOT SYNOPSIS
PROLOGUE: Alma and John as young
children meet at the fountain in the
town park of Glorious Hill, Mississippi.
ACT ONE
SCENE I: (1911) Some years later in
the same park, Alma strolls with her
parents, Reverend Winemiller and his
eccentric wife. She meets John Bu-
chanan, now a medical student.
Attracted to him, but shy and sickly,
Alma is delighted when he invites
her to go riding with him. John is dis-
tracted by the appearance of the
seductive Rosa Gonzales.
SCENE II: In the family rectory,
Alma gives a voice lesson to young
Nellie, who reveals her youthful
fascination with John. Alma is mor-
tified when her mother describes
Alma’s own attraction to John.
SCENE III: Alma’s group of friends
come to the rectory for a poetry
night. John, her “guest of honor,”
arrives. The members argue over the
evening’s agenda and John leaves,
much to Alma’s distress. Mrs. Wine-
miller again interrupts and the
meeting breaks up.
SCENE IV: Later that evening, John
is in the office of his doctor father.
Alma arrives, complaining of an
anxiety attack. He gives her a seda-
tive and reassures her that she will
make it through the summer until
the leaves “turn to smoke” in the
fall. They make a date for the fol-
lowing Saturday night.
SCENE V: John and Alma are at the
Moon Lake Casino. When it appears
that they might overcome the emo-
tional barriers between them, John
suggests they take a room there and
becomes amorous. Alma tears her-
self away and rushes off.
SCENE VI: Alma returns to the rec-
tory and muses on her future. Still at
the casino, John is now drunk and
caresses Rosa.
ACT TWO
SCENE VII: While Alma and her
friend Roger look at photographs,
they hear noise from a wild party at SCENE X: John is in his office when
the Buchanan’s. Roger tells Alma that Nellie, now a mature young lady,
John and Rosa are planning to elope. surprises him; they flirt and then
Next door, John is again drinking, and kiss. She promises to renew the
Rosa and her drunk father are with relationship at Christmas.
him. Later,John’s father comes in
SCENE XI: (Winter) Alma sits in the
unexpectedly, is outraged, and insults
park and greets Nellie, who gives her
Papa Gonzales, who shoots him.
a present inscribed “To Alma, from
SCENE VIII: While Dr. Buchanan is Nellie and John.” The implication of
being tended to, John confronts this sends Alma back into the rectory.
Alma. She admits it was she who
SCENE XII: Alma visits John’s office.
informed his father about the party.
She hasn’t been well; while he exam-
The Reverend tells Alma that the
ines her, she suddenly kisses him,
dying doctor wants her to sing for
confesses her love. When he makes
him. As her voice is heard, John is
no response, she slowly begins to un-
left to agonize over his father and to
derstand. Nellie’s arrival with an
contemplate his own decline.
engagement ring makes it all clear.
SCENE IX: (Fall 1911) Alma has aban- Alma runs off in great distress.
doned her friends and her interests.
EPILOGUE: Sitting in the park, Alma
The Reverend urges her to come out
recalls the children’s voices. A stran-
of isolation, but she is further shat-
ger appears and invites her to go
tered when she hears a celebration
dancing at the Moon Lake Casino.
for John’s homecoming.
She accepts and they go off slowly.
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Summer and Smoke Young John
Why don’t you just tell me and
daughter. What’s eternity?
Young Alma
Prologue CD One, Track 1 save me the trouble. It’s something that goes on and on
A park in Glorious Hill, Mississippi. Young Alma and on when life and death and
Young Alma No, I won’t. Go on. Read it. time and everything is finished.
Johnny… Johnny, do you know the Young John Young John
name of the angel? “E…” There’s no such thing!
Young John Young Alma Young Alma
Does she have a name? “E,” yes. Where people’s souls live. Here,
Young Alma Young John take this handkerchief.
Yes, she has a name. It’s engraved “T?” Young John
on the base, but it’s all worn away Young Alma What’s that for?
so you can’t read it. Yes. Young Alma
Young John Young John Because you need it.
Then how do you know? Another “E?” Young John
Young Alma Young Alma I do not. (wipes his face) There. Is my
You have to read it with your fin- “E.” face clean enough to suit you now?
gers. It gave me the shivers when I Young John Young Alma
found out what her name was. “K”? It’s beautiful.
Young Alma Young John
No. Johnny… What?
Young John Young Alma
“R”? I said, it’s beautiful.
Young Alma Young John
Yes. “E-T-E-R…” Well then, let’s kiss each other.
Young John Come on, Alma. Come on, let’s
“Eternity!” just try it!
Young Alma
Eternity, yes. Doesn’t it give you Act I
the shivers? Scene One Track 2
Young John Summer, 1911. Same town square.
No. Reverend Winemiller (entering)
Young Alma Alma, here we are.
Well, it did me. Mrs. Winemiller
Young John Here we are, Alma! Where is the
“Young” Alma (Chloë Niemann) That’s because you’re a preacher’s ice cream man?
and “Young” John (Sam Rodd).

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 and bring you some ice cream.
Mrs. Winemiller
Strawberry, Alma. Chocolate.
Chocolate and strawberry mixed!
Not vanilla.
Alma (distracted)
Yes, mother. Vanilla…
Mrs. Winemiller
No, I said not vanilla. If you dare...
Reverend (pulling her away)
Mother, people are noticing!
Mrs. Winemiller (Claire Coolen, at
left) and Alma (Anna Viemeister)
John Buchanan
Alma
I believe it’s the nightingale.
Mother, there isn’t any ice Good evening, Miss Alma.
cream man. Alma
Reverend
You’re home for the summer?
Are you intending to stay here? Summer is not the pleasantest
Alma time of year to renew an ac-
I won’t be late. I promised Roger
quaintance with Glorious Hill…
I’d wait till after the concert. Is it? Your father tells me you’ve
Reverend made a study of bac…bac…ter…
I suppose you’ve noticed who’s by
John
the fountain. Hadn’t you better Bacteriology.
wait on a different bench? Alma
Alma
A bacteriologist!
This is where Roger will meet me. John
Reverend Yes.
Mother, we’ll run along then. This
Alma
is the way. And peer through a microscope.
Mrs. Winemiller John
I want to stay for the fireworks
Well, sometimes.
display.
Alma
Reverend
Isolating germs.
Definitely not!
John
Alma
We hope.
Roger and I will stop by the store
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Alma
I’ve looked through a telescope
but never a microscope. What do
you see?
John
Oh, Miss Alma...
Alma
No, tell me. Go on.
John
You see a world…
Alma
You see a world…
Track 3 John
...and it’s a mystery. It’s all the
same. No matter where you look,
you see the same. Examining the
vast and distant galaxies through a
telescope. You see part anarchy and
part order.
Alma
It’s part order and part anarchy…
John
No matter where you look. And of
the mystery we know no more for
sure than we know of any world,
or of you and me.
Alma
Part order... The footprints of God.
John
But not God.
Alma Track 4
I belong to a little group that meets
every ten days.
John
As often as that?
 Alma
What? Why? More serious?
John
Miss Alma, what I think you have
is something that sounds lovely. A
Doppelgänger. You have a Doppel-
gänger and the Doppelgänger is
irritated.
Alma
Oh, my goodness! An irritated
Doppelgänger. It doesn’t sound
lovely at all.
John
Don’t be upset.
Alma
Dr. John Buchanan (Nickoli Strommer) and Alma. And how did you arrive at this
Alma diagnosis? (He laughs.) But you’ve
Alma
Yes. been teasing me, haven’t you?
You mustn’t make fun. They’re
people with intellectual and John John
artistic interests. ...that you come running in panic No one would tease a nightingale.
John Alma
at two in the morning.
Yes, I see. You used to call me that in school.
Alma
Alma John
Yes. Sometimes as late as that.
You must come. I’ll remind you of it. Was I so terribly cruel?
He always reassures me.
John Alma
John
You should go out with people your I must not detain you.
Temporarily.
own age. John
Alma
Alma (She falters.) You think I don’t like you. Don’t
Yes.
Oh… you know that I do?
John
John Alma
I think, Miss Alma, your situation
What is it? No, you don’t.
is more serious than to require a
Alma John
little temporary reassurance.
Nothing. A nervous heart. Or so Of course, I do.
Alma
your father tells me. Alma
What?
John No, let me go.
John John
A nervous heart. Which can be so
I do. Very much.
alarming...
■7■
John Track 5 John (going off) Don’t rush!
Sometimes at night when I come Then get one! Nellie
home late… Roger (enters) “For the gentle wind doth move
Alma Well, how did it go, Miss Alma? silently, invisibly.”
Late… Alma (distracted) Nellie and Alma (together)
John Roger… How did what go? “I told my love, I told him all my
Late at night… I look over at the Roger heart. Trembling cold, in ghastly
rectory and no matter how late it My solo! fear…”
is, with all the lights out. I seem Alma Mrs. Winemiller (has entered)
to see something at the window, Your solo? I’m feeling so dizzy. “I told my love...!” You sound like
something white and watching. I’ll have to hang on to your arm. two cats.
Who is it, Miss Alma, looking out of Alma
the window that faces my way? Scene II Track 6 Mother, please!
Could that be you, or is it your (The Winemiller parlor, Alma Nellie
Doppelgänger? conducts a singing lesson.) “...Did my love depart.”
Alma Nellie (standing near the piano) Mrs. Winemiller
That’s enough about my “Never seek to tell thy love…” Alma’s in love...
Doppelgänger. Alma (coaches from the keyboard) Alma
John Open, nice. If you refuse to go upstairs, please
Would the two of you like to go Nellie do not interrupt Nellie’s lesson.
riding? “...Love that never told can be.” “No sooner had he…”
Alma Alma Nellie
What, now? Two-three-four-five-six… “...gone, than a stranger passing by”
John Mrs. Winemiller (she is wearing a
Oh, some afternoon. fancy hat) Alma’s in love.
Alma Alma
Would you observe the Where did you get that hat?
speed limit? Mrs. Winemiller
John I bought it.
Strictly, with you, Miss Alma. Alma
Alma You took it from Mister Gillam’s
Why, then I’d be glad to… John. shop. You should be ashamed.
John Mrs. Winemiller
And wear a hat with a plume! He gave it to me.
Alma Reverend Winemiller (storming in)
I don’t have a hat with a plume! Nellie (Audean Farmer) Alma! Your Mother…

■8■
 Nellie wonderful for you to live next
You know about mother’s repu- door to him!
tation. Nobody nice but you will Alma
have anything to do with us. All of He was with... your mother?
her friends act like pigs. Nellie
Mrs. Winemiller No, he was with some loud and
“Pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs, pigs!” tacky dame in a bright dress with
Alma a “z” in her name.
Mother! (to Nellie) Hadn’t we Alma
better run over the song? Gonzales. Rosa Gonzales.
Nellie Nellie
But oh! Last night! I’d fallen asleep Yes. From the Moon Lake Casino.
Reverend Winemiller (Robert E. and suddenly he was standing in But oh, Miss Alma.
Mellon) berates his wife. the door of my room. Alma
Alma Alma No. Your mother was right. He isn’t
I know, Father. We’ll just have to Nellie, I’m not sure I want to hear… fit to call himself a doctor. He’s
pay for it. Nellie pitiably weak.
Reverend Someone you know. Voice (heard from a distance)
Mister Gillam says the hat costs Alma Johnny!
fourteen dollars. I know?
Alma Nellie Nellie (looks out window) Track 7
You pay six and I’ll pay eight. The most wonderful man in all the Someone’s calling him!
Reverend world! He sat on the bed and held Alma (anxiously)
What an insufferable cross we my hand. And he talked to me so Nellie, don’t lean out the window
have to bear. politely. He was terrible to mom. and have us caught spying.
Mrs. Winemiller He made her promise to send me Mrs. Winemiller
“Insufferable cross” yourself, you to a girls’ school to learn to curtsy, Show Nellie how you spy on him all
old windbag. I suppose. She said, “You’re not fit the time. “Oh, Johnny!” Only Alma
Alma to call yourself a doctor!” stands behind the curtain.
Nellie, I’m sorry. Mrs. Winemiller (overhearing this) Alma
Nellie Ha! Mother!
It’s all right, Miss Alma. I can’t Alma Mrs. Winemiller
concentrate. I have to tell some- Doctor… John Buchanan? He’s coming here tonight with all
one. It’s so wonderful! Nellie her poet friends.
Alma Yes, of course. Doctor Johnny Bu- Alma
You seem so excited. chanan. And all I can think is how Mother!

■9■
Mrs. Winemiller
She called him on the phone and
had a fit! Alma’s in...
Alma
Be still!
Mrs. Winemiller (quietly)
Alma’s in love…
Alma
Nellie, please go. I’m sorry.
Nellie (going)
Alright, Miss Alma. Good after-
noon, Miss Alma. Good afternoon,
Mrs. Winemiller.
Alma (to her mother)
If I ever hear you say such a thing
again. If you ever dare to repeat
such a thing again… If you must act
like a child, then I will punish you
as a child. There’ll be no more ice
cream because I’m tired of your
malice. People wonder why I’m tied
here. You’ve taken my youth away.
And I wouldn’t say such a thing if
you were kind. I wouldn’t mind. But
I could spread my life out like a rug
and have you step on it. Which is
what you’ve always done. And then
you dare repeat a disgusting lie in
front of that girl!
Mrs. Winemiller
Don’t you think I hear you go to the
window every night to watch him
come in?
Alma (tearing the hat from her
mother) Give me that hat! It goes
back to the shop tonight!
Mrs. Winemiller (grabbing it back) me cry.
Fight! Fight! Fight! God have Vernon
mercy! She’s hitting me! Thank you, Nancy!
Alma Roger
Give that to me! Boys and girls, the meeting is
Mrs. Winemiller called to order. Miss Alma will
Pigs...! (She exits.) read the minutes of the previous
Alma (exhausted, slumps, into a meeting.
chair) Heav’n have mercy! Alma
Very well.
Scene III Track 8
Mrs. Bassett
(That evening. The Winemiller
Skip the minutes and concentrate
living room. A literary group has
on the present and future. That’s a
assembled.)
widow’s philosophy.
Vernon
Alma (reading)
I think it’s a question of whether or
“Our last meeting fell on August
not we have a serious purpose. I
fourteenth…” (drops the papers)
was under the impression that we
Mrs. Bassett
had a serious purpose. But then, if
Butterfingers! And that was the
we don’t have a serious purpose…
meeting before last.
Alma
Alma
Of course we have a serious pur-
You’re perfectly right. Our last
pose. But I don’t think we should
meeting fell… (The doorbell rings.)
publish a manifesto!
Vernon
Mrs. Bassett
That’s the door.
It’s a beautiful manifesto! It made
The Poetry Group: Rosemary (Anna Christina Lawrence, at left), with Mrs.
Bassett (Samantha Korbey) and Roger (Chris Lucier, at left) with Vernon
(Michael O’Halloran).
■ 10 ■
Alma John Rosemary
Was that the bell? Of course. Is this a vote?
Mrs. Bassett Roger Roger
It sure did sound like it to me. A play in seventeen acts. No rough tactics, Mrs. Bassett.
Alma Vernon Alma
Excuse me a moment. I think it Only five, Roger, only five! Vernon, we’ll only postpone your
may be our guest. Yes, it is! Our Roger play until cooler weather.
guest of honor! Everybody, this is We decided to put it off till Vernon
Doctor John Buchanan, Junior! cooler weather. I don’t at all mind…
John Rosemary Rosemary (stands)
Hello, everybody. I’m supposed to read my paper on “The poet William Blake...”
Mrs. Bassett (aside) William Blake. Mrs. Bassett
I never thought he’d show. Mrs. Bassett Insane! That man was a mad
John No, no. fanatic!
I’m sorry I’m late, how much did Vernon Roger
I miss? It’s all right, I don’t at all mind to No, Mrs. Bassett…
Alma postpone it again. Alma
Nothing... only the minutes. Here, Roger Surely not Blake.
sit on the sofa by me. Well, now Let’s hear Rosemary’s paper on Rosemary
we’re completely assembled… William Blake. He was a wonderful man.
John Mrs. Bassett Mrs. Bassett
I can’t stay long. Those dead poets can wait. Vernon’s I can speak my opinion. I’ve read
Alma alive and he’s brought his play three up on Blake. Go on, Rosemary, I
No, you must. times and each time he’s been wasn’t criticizing your paper.
Mrs. Bassett disappointed. Alma
Vernon has brought his play Vernon Mrs. Bassett is only joking.
in verse. I’m not at all disappointed. That Rosemary
Alma isn’t the point. I just won’t if she feels so strongly.
Is that right, Vernon? Oh, I see Alma Mrs. Bassett
you have. Shall we take a standing vote on He’s gone to a drunkard’s grave
Vernon the question? and we shouldn’t encourage it.
“The Tender Thistles.” Roger Rosemary
John Yes, let’s do. That’s simply not true.
I beg your pardon? Alma Alma
Vernon All those in favor… Mrs. Bassett, you’ve confused
The title. Blake with someone else.
■ 11 ■
Mrs. Bassett Roger Alma
He ran around with that Frenchman Will the meeting come to order? What, John?
who shot at him and landed them Rosemary John
both in jail. Mad as a hatter. A pau-How can anyone hear themselves I didn’t realize how late it was
per who died in a drunken stupor. think? getting.
Died of TB in the gutter. Go on with Mrs. Bassett Alma
your paper. I’m sorry. I know what I’m thinking of... what’s-his-name? John!
I’m saying. Vernon John (leaving)
Rosemary “The Tender Thistles” is really quite I have to call on a patient, I’m sorry.
“The poet William Blake was born long and should be planned with Rosemary
in 1757.” appropriate songs. “Born in 1757…”
Mrs. Bassett Roger Roger
It’s a shame, is all I’m saying. Everyone, please! Rosemary’s Of poor but honest parents.
Roger reading. Rosemary
I think you’re confusing Blake… Mrs. Bassett Not at all!
Mrs. Bassett I just don’t want to wait till fall to Mrs. Bassett
“The Tender Thistles...” read Vernon’s play. No supercilious remarks out of
Vernon Roger you, sir. Go on, Rosemary. Such a
It’s all in iambic pentameter. We can’t just ignore her. Boys and beautiful voice. Stand up!
Alma (encouraging Rosemary) girls, please come to order. Rosemary
Please, Rosemary. Blake wrote that Rosemary “Little did little William know
lovely poem: I simply can’t read in all this what a rude and callous…”
confusion. Alma (furious)
Alma TRACK 9
I’m ashamed of you! All of you!
Vernon
“Never seek to tell You...
Reading it now would probably be
thy love…” Mrs. Winemiller (rushes in)
a mistake.
Mrs. Bassett Alma! Alma! Help me! The ice
Rosemary
Oh, I remember. I’ve got something cream man is after me. He is, I
For the love of Heaven! How could
to say. know it! I know it! (stops, sees the
anyone hear themselves think?
Roger others) Who’s all this?
Vernon
Everyone, please, please everyone! Rosemary, please go on with your Alma
Rosemary Oh mother!
paper on Blake.
I simply can’t read in all this Mrs. Winemiller (runs out again)
John (gets up)
confusion. Help me, Alma!
I’m terribly sorry but I’ll have
Mrs. Bassett Alma (leaves the room)
to go.
I’m not thinking of Blake at all… Excuse me, please.

■ 12 ■
Mrs. Bassett John Alma
I think we’d better go. Poor Miss He’s asleep, Miss Alma. It’s two Such as yourself and that lady
Alma. o’clock in the morning. outside.
Roger Alma John
I move the meeting adjourn. I’m aware of the time. I’m afraid I Or you and me. You’ll be sleepy.
Vernon must see him. Alma
I second the motion. Dr. Buchanan (calling from the I couldn’t sleep.
Mrs. Bassett (They start to go.) upstairs bedroom) John! What’s John
I knew it was a mistake to have the going on? You began to hear your heart?
meeting here. Nobody comes to the John (calling up to him)
It scared you?
rectory anymore. Nothing much, Dad. Someone was
Alma
Rosemary (as they go out) cut in a fight.
It always does.
I don’t understand. What happened? Dr. Buchanan
I’m coming down. John
Alma (comes back, finds an empty I know.
room.) I’m sorry. I hope you’ll John
Stay in bed, Dad. I’ve patched him Alma
excuse… I don’t think I’ll be able to get
Mrs. Winemiller up. You sleep.
Alma through the summer.
Alma. Alma, can I have some
I must see your father. I’m ill.
punch? Alma? Alma! AIR Track 11
John
Alma (frantic) John
You’re hysterical. Drink this down.
Please, Mother! You can have it all! Yes, yes, Miss Alma, you’ll get
Alma
Please! Please! through the summer. The days will
What is it?
John get warmer until they get cooler.
Scene IV Track 10 Don’t you trust me? One day will come after the other.
(Late that night. Doctor Buchanan’s Alma One night will come after another,
office. Rosa bandages John’s arm.) You’re in no condition to inspire till sooner or later the summer will
John (slightly drunk, hears knocking) confidence… (She suddenly col- be all through. And you’ll be through
I’d better answer before they wake lapses into a chair.) I seem to be… it. And it will be fall. And all the
dad! An emergency case. John summer leaves will be smoke. And
Alma (comes in, sees Rosa) Your intellectual meeting wore you’ll come to me and say you can’t
The “patient” you had to call on this you out. even hope to see how you’ll get
evening. I want to see your father. Alma through the fall. Breathe deeply.
John (as Rosa leaves) You made a quick escape. There’s nothing wrong, but I’ll check
Anything I can do? John your heart.
Alma I only like meetings between Rosa’s Voice (from outside)
No, I want to see your father. two people. Johnny!
■ 13 ■
John (calls off to her) about it a lot. Many times I’ve Scene V Track 12
Callatela boca! looked across to the rectory and (Saturday night, outside the
Alma wondered if it would be worth Moon Lake Casino)
I hate to keep her waiting. trying you and me. John (enters with Miss Alma)
John Alma It’s almost time for the cockfight
Rosa doesn’t mind. Unbutton your And...? to begin.
blouse. John Alma
Alma Fingers warm now? Then we’re certainly not going in.
Unbutton? Alma I thought such things were illegal.
John I’m feeling drowsy, like a water John
The blouse. Fingers frozen? lily on a Chinese lagoon. This is Moon Lake Casino where
Let me. Rosa’s Voice anything goes.
Alma (He helps her with the Johnny!
buttons.) If your father discovered Alma
Alma
that lady, it would distress him And you come here frequently?
I must go.
terribly. John
John
John (takes out his stethoscope) I’d say continually.
I’ll call for you Saturday night at
He won’t. Breathe. Breathe. Alma
eight o’clock.
Alma I’m afraid you must be sincere
Alma
What do you hear? about abandoning your medical
What?
John career.
John
A little voice saying Miss Alma is John
Take these tablets, never more
lonely. I certainly am. Why should I stay
than two at a time.
Alma here? I thought I might go down to
Alma
If your idea of helping me… Mexico or South America. The
John What did you say?
John señoritas are caviar among women.
Breathe. Fingers still frozen?
I said I’ll call for you Saturday I’d laze in the sun.
Alma
night. Alma
A little.
Alma Indulging your senses.
John
You know I like you. You have great At eight o’clock. John
feeling in your heart and that’s rare. John Well, Miss Alma, one uses his senses
Alma Is that all right? to get what he can of satisfaction.
The last time we spoke, you said Alma Alma
we’d go riding, but you forgot. Oh… (Alma leaves.) No, John, self-satisfaction.
John Rosa John
No, Miss Alma, I’ve thought Johnny… What other kind is there?

■ 14 ■
 some of us are looking at the stars!”
John (amused)
Mister Oscar Wilde.
Alma
Oh! Nevertheless, it’s still true.
Some of us are looking at the stars.
John
With gloves on?
Alma
Then I’ll take them off.
John
Under the surface, you have a
great deal of excitement. More
than any woman I know. (They kiss.)
Alma rhapsodizes to John.
Oh, Miss Alma…
Alma
AIR Track 13 Just “Alma,” John.
Alma John
Have you ever been to, or seen a “Miss Alma” suits you better, Miss
picture of a Gothic cathedral? Alma. (She pulls away.) Is it so
John difficult to forget you’re a
Yes, I suppose I have. preacher’s daughter?
Alma Alma
How everything reaches up, A minister’s daughter is no
straining for something out of the different from any other lady.
reach of human fingers. Those John
glorious windows and portals many Is being a lady so important?
times as high as the tallest man. Alma
Those great vaulted ceilings, and all Perhaps not to the girls you bring to
the delicate spires, all, all reaching the Moon Lake Casino. But suppose,
higher. Straining for something out John, suppose that someday…
of the reach of stone. Thrown at the suppose you marry? Wouldn’t you
sky, higher than man can reach or want that woman to be a lady?
hope to attain. Who was it said Someone you and her children
that, oh, such a beautiful thing: could respect?
“All of us are in the gutter, but
■ 15 ■
John
A man should have a lot more than
respect for the woman he marries.
The cockfight is starting! Love,
Miss Alma, is what you bring to it.
Alma
Some women bring only their
bodies. Some women, John, can
bring their hearts to love, can bring
their souls to love.
John
Souls and Gothic cathedrals. Alma,
Alma, Spanish for soul. Sometime
I’d like to show you a chart of the
human anatomy. Maybe you can
show me where that beautiful soul
is located. There are rooms above
in the casino.
Alma
I had heard you made suggestions
like that to the girls you go out
with. What made you think you
could say such a thing to me?
John
I counted your pulse in the office
that night you couldn’t sleep.
They kiss.
Alma will come after another till sooner Alma
I was ill and went to your father or later the summer will be all What an active lady.
for help. through. And I’ll be through it and Roger
John it will be fall. And here she is with a telescope.
It was me you went to. John (is seen, still at the casino, Alma
Alma drinking. He has Rosa with him.) Telescope.
I went to see your father. Rosa, Rosa, has anyone gone down Roger
John hill as fast as I have this summer? And here on the top of an elephant.
You’re so excited tonight; you had Alma Is it always so noisy at Doctor
to take one of those pills I gave you. And all the summer leaves will be Buchanan’s or is there a party
Alma smoke... tonight?
Why would I? John Alma
John In a clean white suit every day… I really don’t notice.
You have them here… and every night is the same; they’re Roger
Alma all the same. It’s all a joke. Rosa... Someone should call his father in
Yes! Because of your driving! Flying! Alma Lyon and tell him.
John And I’ll come to you and say…I Alma
Fingers frozen... (He roughly can’t even hope to see… how I’ll Why is your mother holding a bow
kisses her.) get through the fall. and arrow?
Alma END ACT I / END CD ONE Roger
Oh, I want to go… But not with John Buchanan and Rosa Gonzales
you! I’ll call a taxi. ACT II are having a wedding tomorrow.
John Prelude CD II, Track 1 Alma
I’ll get you one, Miss Alma! (calls, Scene VII Track 2 That isn’t true, Roger. You
off) Taxi...! (The rectory. Sounds of a party are shouldn’t say…
Alma (hurries away) heard from next door.) Roger
You’re not a gentleman...! Roger (showing Alma photos and I have a friend at the courthouse.
postcards) And this is Ceylon, the They took out a license today.
Scene VI Track 15 pearl of the Orient. Alma
(Later that night. Back in town. Alma (only half paying attention) Well, what do you know.
Alma, alone at her house.) Ceylon, pearl of the Orient. Roger
Alma Roger I think I’d better go.
Yes, yes, John, I’ll get through the And here is my mother on top Alma
summer. The days will get warmer of a temple. And here in a trop- Take your photographs…
until they get cooler. One day will ical tree… Roger
come after the other. One night Miss Alma… Goodnight.

■ 16 ■
Alma
Someone should call Doctor
Buchanan. (Scene shifts to the
Buchanan doctor’s office.)
Rosa (entering)
Johnny? Johnny? Aw! You have
blood on your face.
John
Yes. You bit my ear.
Rosa
John
Off we go and live off money from
Papa Gonzales. Oh, not long ago
that would have disgusted me. But
Track 3
not anymore. Rosa, Rosa, has any-
one gone downhill as fast as I have
this summer?
Rosa
No, no, you’re drunk.
Papa Gonzales (stumbles in waving
bailas? (Rosa, let’s celebrate! Why
do you not dance?)
Rosa (to John, as Papa falls into a
chair, drunk) Let him stay. Come
back to the party. (She goes off,
but John remains, then staggers
over to the rectory and walks in.
Alma is inside.)
John Track 4

Aw!
John
You never make love without
scratching or biting or something.
Why is that?
Rosa
Because I know I can’t hold you.
John
You’re doing a damn good job. To-
morrow, tomorrow it’s off we go!
Dance for me, Rosa.
Rosa
Tu eres mi amor. Yo soy tu mujer!
(You are my love. I’ll be your wife!)
John
Tomorrow, tomorrow, we’re off
and away. In a little red boat we
go off to sea.
Rosa
You say it, but I don’t believe it.
Papa Gonzales (heard from off)
Lo que quieras, Rosa, lo que sea!
John
What is he saying?
Rosa
“The sky is the limit!”
a pistol) Rosa, por qué non bailas?
Oye! Mal apostador! Eres mal
apostador! Yo soy buen apostador.
Lo que quieras, Rosa, lo que sea. Le
doy la tierra, y si tierra no basta, le
doy el cielo! Rosa quería un collar
de perlas y dijo el tipo cincuenta
pesos; entonces yo dije, ahora bien,
cuanto vale ese collarcito? (Rosa,
why don’t you dance? Hey, bad
gambler! You’re a bad gambler. But
I am a good gambler. Rosa, I will
give you the entire world. The sky
is the limit! Rosa wants a pearl
necklace. I give you fifty pesos.
Now how much is the necklace?)
John (pushing him away)
Get your stinking breath out of
my face.
Papa Gonzales
Eh, mal apostador!
Rosa
Déjalo, Papa. (Papa, leave him
alone!)
Papa Gonzales
Rosa, vamos a festejar! Por qué no
I took the open door for an invita-
tion. The air is cool tonight. A
wind is blowing, but my head is on
fire. Alma, contained and quiet.
Peaceful, but not at peace. Will
you or I ever find that peace? Alma.
Before I go I want to feel your hands
on my face. Eternity and Alma have
such cool hands. (He kneels beside
her, rests his head in her lap.)
Rosa (back at the Buchanans’)
Johnny… Oh! I thought you were
Johnny. But you’re Johnny’s father.
I’m Rosa Gonzales.
Dr. Buchanan (angry)
I know who you are. What are you
doing in my house?
Rosa
John is giving a party because we’re
leaving tomorrow together. I hope
you like the idea. But if you don’t it
doesn’t matter, because we like the
idea… and my father likes the idea.
Papa Gonzales (drunk, from the
chair) Lo que quieras, Rosa, lo
que sea!

■ 17 ■
 John
It happened because someone
called him back here tonight.
Alma
I did.
John
Rosa (María So it was you. You brought him
Leticia
Hernández) back here to be shot.
watches as Alma
Papa Gonzales
(Steve Gokool, You can’t blame anything but
at right) shoots your weakness.
Dr. Buchanan,
Sr. (Salim Paul
John
Abed). You call me weak?
Alma
Dr. Buchanan John
Sometimes it takes something like
Get your swine out of my house! What is your father saying in
this to make someone strong.
Take your swine from my house, there?
John
Gonzales! Get your swine out! Reverend
Miss Alma, you don’t know how
You up there! Come down here! “…in the path of righteousness
for his name’s sake.” wrong everything you believe.
Get out of my house! Get out!
Alma All your mumbled litanies, all of
Rosa (Her father drunkenly draws
A prayer. its lies.
his pistol.) No, Papa! No, Papa! No!
(He shoots Dr. Buchanan.) Johnny! John Alma
Johnny! We don’t want his magic. John you’re drunk, you mustn’t…
Alma John
Scene VIII Track 5
Look at this chart of anatomy.
It isn’t a question of what you
Later. The Buchanan house. Alma
want. Drink this coffee.
Reverend Winemiller (heard in the Please don’t, John!
John
distance, praying) “The Lord is my
I don’t want it. John
shepherd; I shall not want. He
Alma I’d like to show you what
maketh me to lie down in green
You should go in. people are.
pastures...”
John Alma
John
He wouldn’t want me in there. Please!
What is that litany in there?
Alma John
Reverend
This happened because of his You think you’re stuffed with rose
“He leadeth me beside the still
devotion to you. leaves.
waters. He restoreth my soul...”
■ 18 ■
 John
I wouldn’t have made love
to you.
Alma
What?
John
Could not. That night at the
casino. Even if you had consented.
Isn’t that funny? I’m more afraid
of your soul than you’re afraid of
my body.
The
Anatomy Reverend (comes in) Track 6
Lesson
Alma, Doctor Buchanan is asking
Alma what have you done? You’ve fed for you.
John, your father… the belly a little—cakes and tea— Alma
John but love and truth, none! Nothing. For me?
Rose leaves and lavender… Nothing! Nothing but archaic plat- Reverend
Alma itudes, notions and poses, lavender He would like you to sing to him.
With you so much to blame, at sachet and roses. Alma
least for this while you could feel Alma I couldn’t just now.
some shame. Is that your high conception of Reverend
John (pulls her over to an office human desires? I… I reject your Alma…
anatomy chart) Look at what you notion of where love is… And the John
really, Miss Alma, really, really are! kind of truth to which you say we Go in and sing to him, Miss Alma.
Now, this upper story is the brain, aspire. There is something more (She goes in, then is heard gently
which is hungry for something than brain and stomach and heart. singing.) The most angelic voice
called truth, but it doesn’t get John cannot tell the doctor he will live.
much, so it goes on feeling hungry. Something that Alma is Spanish for? But sing to us, Alma, and we’ll
Do you follow me? This is the belly, Alma pretend to forget. Forget the
the middle’s the belly which is Yes, and it’s not on your chart! waste! Forget the time we
hungry for food. And this part down But it’s there just the same. Some- haven’t got. Forget. You came
here is the sex, which is hungry for where not seen, but it’s there. And here to save me again, but I can’t
love because… Do you follow me? it’s that I loved you with. Not what save you, Father! Father! (The
People get lonely… Now I’ve fed you mention. Yes, did nearly die of, Reverend returns, sadly shakes his
all three as much as I wanted. And when you hurt me. head.)

■ 19 ■
Scene IX Track 7
Time has passed. The rectory.
Reverend (enters with wife.) Let
go of my arm! She was on her
worst behavior.
Mrs. Winemiller
I got myself an ice cream cone.
Reverend
And she walked home licking it
every step of the way!
Mrs. Winemiller (imitating him)
Every step of the way!
Reverend
Just to humiliate me.
Mrs. Winemiller
Lick?
Reverend
No thank you.
Alma (in a robe and nightgown)
Now, children...
Reverend
Alma, why don’t you dress? It hurts
me to see you sitting around like
this, day in, day out, like an invalid.
Alma
I’ve made the beds. I’ve washed
the dishes. I’ve sent the laundry out.
I’ve phoned the store. I’ve set the
table for lunch. What more do
you want?
Reverend
I want you either to dress or stay in
your room. I’ve heard you slip out
of the house at two in the morning.
Alma
What do you want of me?
Sometimes I must walk for awhile
before I can sleep.
Reverend
People ask after you.
Alma
Tell them I’ve changed, and you’re
waiting to see in what way.
Reverend
Are you going to stay this way
indefinitely?
Alma
You may wish I had. (She looks out.
Music is heard.) Is there a parade?
Mrs. Winemiller
Yes, yes, they met him at the
station with a great big silver
loving cup.
Alma
Who?
Mrs. Winemiller
The boy next door. The one you
used to watch all the time.
Alma’s father tries to comfort her.
■ 20 ■
Reverend
Haven’t you seen the papers?
Alma
No, not lately.
Reverend
It’s a disgrace, the way things go.
He’s finished the work his father
started and gotten all the glory
himself. That’s how it is in this
world. That’s the world we live in.
Years of devotion and sacrifice are
overlooked and forgotten while
someone young and lucky…
Mrs. Winemiller
There he is! (As her parents hurry
out to watch, Alma tries to open a
bottle of pills; they spill over the
floor. Hysterical, she tries to gather
them up. The Reverend returns,
attempts to comfort her.)
Scene X Track 8
John (in his office. Nellie enters.)
High heels, feathers and paint.
Nellie
Not paint.
John
Natural color?
Nellie
Excitement.
John
Over what?
Nellie
Everything. You. Here. Didn’t you
see me at the train? I waved my
arm half off. I’m home for
Thanksgiving. John Scene XI Track 9
John Suppose I did? (She kisses him.) That winter. The park.
Home from where? Where did you learn such tricks? Mrs. Bassett
Nellie (giggling) Nellie Good afternoon, Miss Alma.
Sophie Newcomb’s School For I’ve been away… but they didn’t Alma (sitting on a bench, alone)
Young Ladies. I’m returning this teach me to love. Good afternoon, Mrs. Bassett.
nasty book you gave me last John Rosemary.
summer when I was pretending That’s a very long word. Rosemary
such ignorance. Nellie You seem very tired.
John No it isn’t. Alma
Only pretending? John Yes, I had to sit down.
Nellie You think not? Run along before Mrs. Bassett
I’m afraid so. Shall I go? I might be we get into trouble. It’s good to see you again after
sick. See my tongue. Nellie your illness.
John (examines it) Who’s afraid of trouble? Alma
Strawberry! John Thank you.
Nellie I am. Rosemary
Peppermint. Nellie Our poor little group broke up
John I’ll go if you say so. John? after you dropped out.
Even better. Why the smile? John Alma
Nellie Yes? What a pity.
I always take one… when I hope to Nellie (going) Mrs. Bassett
be kissed. I’ll be back for Christmas. You should have come to our last
meeting. Vernon read his play to us.
Alma
And how was it received?
Mrs. Bassett
Maliciously torn to pieces. The
way children tear the wings off
butterflies.
Rosemary
I think next spring we might
reorganize.
Nellie (comes in)
Miss Alma!
Home from school, Nellie flirts with John.

■ 21 ■
Mrs. Bassett you had been. improperly heated.
Oh dear. Well, goodbye. Alma Alma
Rosemary (The ladies go.) Influence? Such a strange afternoon!
Goodbye! Nellie John
Nellie How you had inspired him. John Is it? I haven’t been out.
There you are. said you came to his house that Alma
Alma night like an angel of mercy. The Gulf wind is blowing enormous
Nellie, why Nellie. Alma (points to the statue) white, fluffy cumulous clouds
Nellie Ha-ha-ha! There is the only angel in across the sky, one after the other.
I stopped by the rectory just for Glorious Hill. Her body is stone and John
a second and they said you had her blood is mineral water. I’m Sit down, Miss Alma.
been ill. going in now, you run along, Nellie. Alma
Alma Nellie If I’m not disturbing you.
How you’ve grown up. Wait! I want to tell you the most John
Nellie wonderful news… No. I called at the rectory when I
Oh yes, they prepare us to be Alma heard you were ill.
smart young ladies in society. Only I’m going home now… Goodbye! Alma
here there’s no society to be in! Scene XII Track 10
I needed a rest, that was all. I hear
Alma Alma (coming into John’s office) you’ve been out of town.
Ha-ha-ha! Oh, you’ll find other No greeting? No greeting at all?
fields to conquer. John
Nellie Hello, Miss Alma.
I’ve a present for you. Alma
Alma How white everything is.
Oh, you shouldn’t… John
Nellie New equipment.
Yes, I should. Alma
Alma Everything new but the chart.
I hardly realized Christmas was John
coming. How lovely. (takes it, reads Anatomy’s always the same old
the card) ”Joyeux Noël to Alma thing.
from Nellie and... John?” Alma
Nellie And such a tiresome one. I’ve
Doctor John helped me wrap it. been plagued with colds.
We talked about you for hours last John
Alma finally realizes John does
night. He told me what an influence These Southern homes are all not love her.

■ 22 ■
John
Redeeming myself as much as I
could.
Alma
It’s rather late to tell you how happy
I am and also how proud of you. I
almost feel as your father might
have felt. Are you happy now?
John
I’ve settled with life on fairly
acceptable terms. Isn’t that all a
person can ask?
Alma
He can ask for the coming true of
his most improbable dreams.
John
It’s best not to ask for too much.
Alma
I cannot believe that, John. I say
ask for everything and be prepared
to get nothing. No, I haven’t been
well. I’ve thought many times
of something you told me last
summer: that I had a Doppelgänger.
I found out that means I have
another person inside me. I don’t
know if I thank you for telling me.
No... I’ve thought many times this
summer that I was going to die.
That was the change that was
coming.
John
When was that feeling?
Alma
August. September. October,
November. No, I haven’t been well.
But now the high Gulf wind has In awe of your glory and that is my
blown that feeling away. And I story. John! John! (He does not
know now I’m not dying. I see that respond. She slowly begins to
quite clearly. It isn’t going to be understand, then speaks.) Do you
nearly that simple. remember those pills you gave me?
John John
Have you been anxious about your I’ll write you a prescription.
heart again? (Alma slowly buttons her blouse.)
Alma Nellie
And now the stethoscope? (Slowly, Johnny? Johnny!
Alma opens her blouse so he can Alma
listen to her heart; she suddenly Someone to see you, the girl who
kisses him, but he pulls away. A helped you wrap this lovely
painful silence.) handkerchief for me.
Nellie (comes in suddenly)
Alma Track 11 I’ve been all over town just
You say nothing? shouting, shouting glad tidings!
John John
Miss Alma, what can I say? I thought we weren’t going to tell
Alma anyone for a while.
It’s no longer a secret that I love Nellie
you. It never was...! I know I’ve I just couldn’t stop myself. Oh,
always shown it without shame Miss Alma, has he told you?
from as long ago as when you read Alma
the angel’s name. Yes, I remember He didn’t need to, Nellie. I
those long afternoons of our child- guessed.
hood. Those days I stayed inside to Nellie
practice my music. The music I Then you were really the first
heard was your name being called to know.
by your friends: “Johnny, Johnny!” Alma
I’d run to the window to see you run I’m proud of that.
to your friends. Yes, it had begun as Nellie (shows her engagement ring)
early as then, this affliction of love. See, this was the present I couldn’t
And all I think of is you. Anyone I tell you about.
touch will be you. I’ve lived next Alma (hurrying off)
door to you all the days of my life… It’s lovely. It hurts my eyes.
■ 23 ■
Epilogue Track 12 Young John Alma
(The fountain in the park. Dusk.) “K?” Oh, I said…. The water is… cool.
Young Alma Young Alma Stranger
Yes, she has a name. It’s engraved No. Yes it sure is. It’s nice and cool.
on the base but it’s all worn away, Young John Alma
so you have to read it with your “R?” It’s always cool.
fingers. Young Alma Stranger
Young John Yes. “E-T-E-R…” Is it?
“E”… Young John Alma
Young Alma Eternity! Yes, even in summer. It comes
“E,” yes. Young Alma from deep underground.
Young John Eternity, yes. Doesn’t it give you Stranger
“T”? the shivers? That’s what makes it cool.
Young Alma Young John Alma
Yes. No. There are many artesian springs
Young John Alma (as the children disappear) in Glorious Hill.
Another “E?” Well, it did me! Stranger
Young Alma Stranger (enters) I didn’t know.
“E.” Did you say something? Alma
Are you a stranger in town?
Stranger
Tonight is my first night in town.
Tomorrow I move on to Jefferson.
I’m a traveling salesman.
Alma
A salesman who travels. The life
of a salesman is interesting…
but lonely.
Stranger
You’re right about that. Hotel
bedrooms are lonely.
Alma
All rooms are lonely where there
is only one person.
Stranger
You’re tired, aren’t you. I’ve heard
of a place by the lake called the
Alma meets a stranger (Brian Wahlstrom).
■ 24 ■
Moon Lake Casino. Are you too Stranger Alma
tired to go dancing with me? Spanish for soul. To the Moon Lake Casino?
Alma Alma Stranger
I do not dance. Habla usted espagnol, señor? How do you know you can’t dance
Stranger Stranger until you try?
What? Well, my name is Archie Un poquito. Habla usted espagnol, Alma
Kramer. Tonight is my first night señorita? Until I try… I never will. I shan’t
in town. Alma make you lonely, Mr. Kramer, your
Alma Yo tambien, un poquito. first night in Glorious Hill.
And tomorrow you move on to Stranger Stranger
Jefferson. Sometimes un poquito is plenty! I’ll call a taxi. Taxi! Taxi...!
Stranger Alma Young John
Yep! And we must be grateful. Well, then, let’s kiss each other.
Alma Stranger Come on. Come on, let’s just
And my name is Alma. What’s that? Are you sure you try it!
won’t go? END ACT TWO / END CD II

MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC OPERA ORCHESTRA

Steven Osgood, conductor
Heidi Studner, Director of Performance Operations Nolan Robertson, Orchestra Manager
VIOLIN I BASSOON SOLO GUIITAR:
Sharon Oh, concertmaster, Lele Jiang, Christine Choi, Leah Kohn Jordan Dodson
Puya Aravand, Margaret Kim, Min Yang, Hannah Min HORN
VIOLIN II Jessica Santiago, Kyra Sims
Nicholas Pappone,* David Schaum, Gemma Baehr, TRUMPET Off-Stage Band:
Minghao Li, Caroline Young, Abby Fennessy Matthew Gasiorowski VIOLIN:
VIOLA TROMBONE Katherine Thomas
Liuyin Yang,* Chi-Jui Lee, David Derrico, Zhenzhen Dai Sean Tripp Tatevik Ayazyan
CELLO PERCUSSION BASS
Carl Baron,* Andrew Yu, Sae Yun Kim, Jan Roszkowski Daniel Morris Max Jacob
DOUBLE BASS TIMPANI TRUMPET
Jonathan Stein,* Sam Ballantyne James Ritchie Michael Dobrinski
FLUTE HARP Sam Nester
Caitlyn Phillips, Kathleen Ellingson Brittany Hicken PIANO
OBOE PIANO / CELESTE Mun Tzong Wong
Jason Smoller Mun Tzung Wong
CLARINET *principal
Mark Dover, Camila Barrientos
■ 25 ■

LEE HOIBY (1926-2011) was born in
Wisconsin of Scandinavian extrac-
tion. His maternal grandfather was a
violinist and teacher who emigrated
from Denmark. His aunts comprised
a touring all-girl saxophone band,
and like Brahms, he was forced by
his father to entertain in alcoholic
dives, leading him to rebel against
any form of pop music, while un-
avoidably imbibing the 30s idiom.
Important European musicians
in flight from Hitler gathered at
the remarkable war-time music
department of the University of
Wisconsin at Madison. Among them
were performers like the Pro Arte
Quartet, led by Arnold Schoenberg’s
son-in-law Rudolph Kolisch, from
whom Hoiby absorbed the highest
levels of European musicianship.
They also introduced him to the
dodecaphony of Schoenberg and
Webern, which he viscerally
rejected.
At Madison, Hoiby’s prodigious
pianistic gift was nurtured by Gun-
nar Johansen, the Danish virtuoso.
He passed Hoiby on to his own pian-
istic mentor, the Busoni acolyte
Egon Petri, with whom he studied
at Cornell and Mills College. On the
verge of a career as a concert
pianist, Hoiby was offered, on the
basis of a few works, written for fun
and submitted without his know-
ledge, a full scholarship to study
composition with Gian Carlo Menot-
ti at the Curtis Institute in Philadel-
phia. He worked closely with Men-
otti as assistant during the period of
the historically unique simultaneous
successes, on the world operatic and
Broadway stages, of The Consul, The
Saint of Bleecker Street, and The
Medium. The effectiveness of Hoi-
by’s 1957 one-act opera The Scarf
was noted at the first Italian Spoleto
Festival, and it was produced at the
New York City Opera the following
season. Hoiby’s next opera, Natalia
Petrovna (NYCO, 1964; revised in
1980 as A Month in the Country and
recorded by John Ostendorf for
Albany in 2004) was praised by the
distinguished Washington critic Paul
Hume, particularly the closing oc-
tet (“of overwhelming beauty, a
supreme moment in opera”) which
he classed with the Rosenkavalier
trio and the Meistersinger quintet.
■ 26 ■
Hoiby’s 1971 setting of Ten-
nessee Williams’ Summer and
Smoke (with libretto by Lanford
Wilson) was declared “the finest
American opera to date” by Harriet
Johnson of the New York Post. Still,
the mid-twentieth century prejudice
against tonality and lyricism, com-
bined with Hoiby’s own professional
and social independence, worked
against widespread recognition. In
1981 Peter Davis wrote of a new
production of Summer and Smoke in
New York Magazine: “Perhaps ten
years ago, music of this sort, un-
abashedly drenched in ardent mel-
ody, was considered something of an
embarassment. Today such an atti-
tude seems childish and irrelevant.”
Hoiby continued to pursue lyric
opportunities with his 1986 setting
of Shakespeare’s final play, The
Tempest, (also recorded by Albany)
of which Opera Magazine wrote
that it was “redolent of Das Rhein-
gold and Richard Strauss, but even so
was melodically, harmonically, and
musically, pure Hoiby.”
Before his passing in March
2011, Hoiby completed a lavish
three-act setting of Romeo and
Juliet. Other operatic works by Lee
Hoiby include the one-act comedy
Something New for the Zoo (1979);
the musical monologues The Italian
Lesson (1981, text by Ruth Draper)
and the the recently recorded—Bon
Appetit! (1985, text by Julia Child)
which together ran off-Broadway
and toured nationally with Jean
Stapleton in the late 1980s, and the
one-act chamber opera, This Is the
Rill Speaking (1992—both works
on the Albany label).
Recent vocal chamber works
include a music-theater piece on
texts of Virginia Woolf, What Is the
Light? written for Claire Bloom and
the 92nd Street Y; Rain Forest for
voice, wind quintet and piano, on
prose poems of Elizabeth Bishop for
the Santa Fe Chamber Music Fest-
ival; and Sonnets and Soliloquies, a
group of Shakespeare settings. Also
of note among his larger compo-
sitions for the voice is his 1991 set-
ting of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I
Have a Dream for baritone and
orchestra, which has had memor-
able performances by William
Stone and Simon Estes.
Hoiby’s immense contribution to
the song repertoire is recognized by
American singers everywhere. His
style is an elegant and unobvious
bridging of the lyrical worlds of
Verdi and Gershwin, which can be
profoundly moving or smoothly
good-humored, but skirts entirely
the modernist obsession with
“originality.” He turned frequently
to texts of great literary and civic
value. His exemplary performer has
been the great American soprano
Leontyne Price, who, from 1964
until her retirement in 1996,
introduced many of his best known
poem settings and arias to the
public, including “The Serpent” of
Roethke, “Be Not Afear’d” (from The
Tempest), the Dickinson songs, the
“Evening” of Wallace Stevens,
“Lady of the Harbor” and “Where
the Music Comes From.”
Hoiby also made significant
contributions to the piano repertory
including two piano concertos and a
volume of solo piano works pub-
lished by G. Schirmer. Some of his
most substantial works are for
chorus, including the Christmas
cantata A Hymn of the Nativity
(text by Richard Crashaw), the
oratorio Galileo Galilei (libretto by
Barrie Stavis), and an accrual of
works for voice, chorus and or-
chestra on texts of Walt Whitman
which have been gathered into a full
evening’s program called A Whit-
man Service. He has written cham-
ber music in numerous combina-
tions, including sonatas for violin,
cello, a concerto for flute and
chamber orchestra (Pastoral Dan-
ces), and Dark Rosaleen (rhapsody
on a theme by James Joyce)
recorded by the Ames Piano
Quartet and recently released on
the Albany label.
More recently he has written
Trio for the Verdehrs for violin,
clarinet and piano, and Last Letter
Home for the male vocal ensemble
Cantus. A solo version of this moving
song can be heard on YouTube.
Manhattan School of Music

Robert Sirota, President, Manhattan School of Music

MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC OPERA THEATRE
Dona D. Vaughn, Artistic Director / Stage Director
Gordon Ostrowski, Assistant Dean / Opera Producer
Steven Osgood, Conductor
Alexander Dodge, Set Designer
Tracy Dorman, Costume Designer
Philip Rosenberg, Lighting Director
Anne Ford-Coates, Hair/Makeup Designer
William Tracy, Head Coach
June Marano-Murray, Elizabeth Rodgers, Vocal Coaches
Kathyrn LaBouff, Diction Coach
Kathleen Stakenas, Production Stage Manager
Silas Huff, Associate Producer

■ 27 ■
 Summer and Smoke
CD One (61:28)
1 PROLOGUE Act One (4:46)
2 SCENE I Reverend: “Alma!” (1:53)
3 John: “I believe it’s the nightingale” (3:52)
4 Alma: “I belong to a little group” (3:00)
5 John: “Sometimes at night” (2:54)
6 SCENE II Nellie: “Never seek to tell” (5:56)
7 Nellie: “Someone’s calling him” (3:28)
8 SCENE III Vernon: “I think” (5:37)
9 Alma: “Never seek to tell thy love” (4:42)
10 SCENE IV John: “I’d better answer” (3:06)
11 John: “Yes, yes, Miss Alma” (5:59)
12 SCENE V John: “It’s almost time” (1:55)
13 Alma: “Have you ever been” (3:47)
14 John: “Oh, Miss Alma!” (6:19)
15 SCENE VI Alma: “Yes, yes, John!” (4:06)

CD Two (61:02)
1 PRELUDE Act Two (1:57)
2 SCENE VII Roger: “And this is Ceylon” (2:16)
3 Rosa: “Johnny?” (3:39)
4 John: “I took the open door” (5:51)
5 SCENE VIII Reverend: “The Lord” (6:22)
6 Reverend: “Alma, Dr. Buchanan” (3:40)
7 SCENE IX Reverend: “Let go of my arm” (7:20)
8 SCENE X John: “High heels?” (3:08)
9 SCENE XI Mrs. Bassett: “Good afternoon” (5:18)
10 SCENE XII Alma: “No greeting?” (6:55)
11 Alma: “You say nothing?” (7:17)
12 EPILOGUE Girl: “Yes, she has a name” (7:10)
 HOIBY Summer and Smoke
TROY 1272 / 73

LEE HOIBY
First recording of Lee Hoiby’s 1971 two-act opera, with libretto by Lanford
Wilson, based on the play by Tennessee Williams—recorded at the acclaimed
2010 Manhattan School of Music Opera Theatre production; Gordon Ostrowski,
opera producer; Steven Osgood, conductor; Dona D. Vaughn, stage director.
John Ostendorf, Albany record producer.

SUMMER AND SMOKE

SUMMER AND SMOKE

Lee Hoiby (1926 -2011) Anna Viemeister Nickoli Strommer Audean Farmer
COMPOSER ALMA JOHN NELLIE

Steven Osgood Lanford Wilson Robert E. Mellon Claire Coolen

TROY 1272 / 73
CONDUCTOR LIBRETTIST REVEREND WINEMILLER MRS. WINEMILLER
LEE HOIBY

CD I: 61:28 CD II: 61:02

Albany Records U.S. CD Producer: John Ostendorf
915 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207 Tel: 518-436-8814 FAX: 518-436-0643
Engineer: Kevin Boutote
Albany Records U.K. Recording Consultant: Christiane Orto
Box 137 Kendal, Cumbria LA80XD Tel: 01539 824008
Warning: Copyright subsists in all recordings issued under the label Production Photos: Carol Rosegg
© 2011 ALBANY RECORDS Made in the USA. www.albanyrecords.com Rock Valley Music Co; Long Eddy, NY