Beeson Tickets

Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden: A Family Portrait is one of the finest American operas based on a true story. Adapted from a story by Richard Plant, the libretto was written by Kenward Elmslie. The opera's premiere was held at New York City Opera, in 1965. The melodramatic performance gained so much popularity that it was soon adapted into a television series. Beeson Tickets will take you to a beautiful live event. Tanglewood Music Center is hosting the dramatic opera at its outdoor amphitheatre.

The premier of the opera featured one of America's great sopranos, Brenda Lewis. With her earnest acting skills she delivered the tragic role of Lizzie Borden with perfection. She put across the feel of desperation and misery of the character in such a manner that it was heartfelt by the audience. Lewis is a true Zwischenfach. Surrounding Lewis is a fine league of actors. Under the expertise of Kirk Browning, the director, all of these actors did well. The league included Andrew, the stern father played by Herbert Beattie, Abigail the opportunistic step mother played by Ellen Faull, Margaret the romantic sister played by Anne Elgar and  the sea captain played by Richard Fredricks.

The mood of the opera is dramatic and tragic, focusing on subjects such as relationships, society and contemporary. The twentieth century opera is a family portrait in three acts. The setting presents the era of 1880s in Fall River, MA. The plot of the opera revolves around the murder of Lizzie's father and her step mother - the trial to find out if Lizzie is guilty and her rejection by the community and her gradual descent to insanity.

This version of the story not only depicts the tragedy of Lizzie, but the tragic failure of a family unit as a whole. The children of the family were psychologically abused by the parents. The daughter is forced to escape into marriage whereas the other is thrown off so far to the edge that she commits a crime of murder. With a blend of traditional hymn tunes, complex vocal ensembles, impressionistic musical idioms and folk ballads from the twentieth century, Beeson has created an extremely a great score.

Angelo Mao appreciates the design of the set as well as the direction of the opera in his article in Boston Classical Review. He states that the set design by Andrew Holland and direction of Christopher Alden are the pivotal factors of the success of the opera. Defining the set, he explains that the claustrophobic setting of a small-town in America was masterfully captured with the linoleum tiled kitchen floor. Praising the direction of Alden, he compares people to objects, suggesting an effective indication of insanity. In another article in The Boston Globe, Jeremy Eichler praises the music of the opera that consists of harsh expressionistic textures to tunefully generous vocal writing.

Even after a century, the infamous story of Lizzie's fate is known to the world. She is considered as the murderer of her father and stepmother. The real incident has been tweaked and revived as a subject for many television movies, books, ballet and plays. But there is only one form of art that perfectly fits the concept and subject when it comes to murderous psychopaths, its opera. Tanglewood Music Center is all prepared to host this phenomena performance this year. How was poor Lizzie dragged to such a state of mind that drove her to murder her own parents? How was she convicted for this dreadful doing? Find out by getting Beeson tickets as soon as possible.