Harvey Milk (opera)

Harvey Milk
Opera by Stewart Wallace
The opera's protagonist, gay activist and politician Harvey Milk, photographed in 1978
Librettist	Michael Korie
Premiere	January 21, 1995 (1995-01-21) Houston Grand Opera

Harvey Milk is an opera in three acts composed by Stewart Wallace to a libretto by Michael Korie. A joint commission by Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, and San Francisco Opera, it was premiered on January 21, 1995 by Houston Grand Opera. The opera is based on the life and death of the gay activist and politician Harvey Milk who was assassinated along with San Francisco's mayor George Moscone on November 27, 1978.

The controversial director John Dew originally suggested the idea for a stage work based on the life of Harvey Milk to David Gockley, at the time General Director of Houston Grand Opera. Gockley then approached the composer Stewart Wallace and his librettist Michael Korie who were looking for new opera subject, having previously collaborated on the dance opera Kabbalah and the two-act opera Where's Dick which had its world premiere at Houston Grand Opera in 1989. According to Gockley, Dew's original conception to stage the work as a musical was "very, very weird, with strange dreamlike drag ballets and the like. He had a distorted idea of the subject." Gockley's relationship with Dew subsequently deteriorated in 1992 when Dew went to Houston to direct the premiere of Robert Moran's opera, Desert of Roses. When both the opera company and Wallace found Dew's concept unacceptable, Harvey Milk took form as an opera instead. The production, jointly commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, and San Francisco Opera, premiered on January 21, 1995 in Houston. It was directed by Christopher Alden with set designs by Paul Steinberg and choreography by Ross Petty.

The production then opened at New York City Opera with the same cast in April 1995. Both the composer and librettist considered the New York premiere "a debacle". The conductor, Christopher Keene was ill with AIDS during much of the rehearsal period. According to Michael Korie, "Christopher was very committed to this, but my hair went gray. The chorus never learned the music. The stage manager was never around." The production did not open at San Francisco Opera until November 1996. In the interim, John Dew produced the German premiere of the opera at the Opernhaus Dortmund in February of that year. On that occasion it was sung in German and used a completely different staging devised by Dew.