Backstage at Carnegie Hall is an audacious, multiracial chamber opera that explores racism as seen through the eyes of legendary jazz guitarist Charlie Christian (1916-1942). The opera brings us back to December 1939, backstage at Carnegie Hall, just minutes before the revolutionary performance of Charlie with the Benny Goodman Sextet. For the first time, a Black guitarist and a white clarinettist share the stage.
At that very moment, Charlie suffers an anxiety attack that starts him on a time travel journey. He confronts racism in the USA and Canada. Jumping back and forth through time, Charlie encounters historical figures such as opera singer Marian Anderson, guitar maker Orville Gibson and iconic Montreal club owner Rufus Rockhead. He sees his dead father; he gets caught in an intense 2014 demonstration against racial profiling. These interactions underscore the ongoing struggle of being a Black person – even a famous one – in a white society.
The deeply moving libretto by acclaimed Canadian playwright Audrey Dwyer explores the individual and social cost of racism. Backstage at Carnegie Hall uses emotionally-charged events – both real and imagined – to examine the impact of generations of racial and class-based trauma and the role of music in evolving discussions about racism.
The entire history of the electric guitar is carefully woven into the score, making the music palpably personal: the music is by one of Canada’s leading composers, Tim Brady, who is also recognized as “one of the 30 most important guitarists for the future of the instrument” (Guitar Player).
Brady’s dramatically radiant, transparent and hybridized musical language, combined with Dwyer’s gutsy and riveting wordsmithing, creates a work that fearlessly deals with the past but shines a light on the present.
Developed in collaboration with Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop.
