Two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera "Grounded," commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, has its awaited company premiere.
Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, one of opera’s most compelling young stars, headlines in the tour-de-force role of Jess, a hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium, leading a cast that also features tenor Ben Bliss as the Wyoming rancher who sweeps Jess off her feet.
Read the synopsis and program guide from the Metropolitan Opera.
From the Met: "Commissioned through the Metropolitan Opera / Lincoln Center Theater New Works Program, 'Grounded' depicts one woman’s journey from a successful F-16 combat pilot in the United States Air Force to a Reaper drone operator in the Nevada desert. A thrilling, fast-paced adaptation of an award-winning play by George Brant, who also wrote the libretto, the opera explores the psychological tolls of modern warfare, as well as the roles of women in the armed forces and in society at large."
Composer: Jeanine Tesori
Libretto: George Brant
CAST:
Jess: Emily D’Angelo
Eric: Ben Bliss
Bar pilot: Earle Patriarco
Commander: Greer Grimsley
Sam: Lucy LoBue
Mission coordinator: Christopher Bozeka
Ground control: Thomas Capobianco
Joint terminal attack controller: Paul Corona
Safety observer: Christopher Job
Judge advocate general: Matthew Anchel
Sensor: Kyle Miller
Also Jess: Ellie Dehn
Seat warmer: Timothy Murray
Mall employees: Tyler Simpson and Patrick Miller
