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FULL RETURNING: The Ordeal of Olive Oatman (Edmund Cionek) New York 2023 Natalie Bellenger, Jeanette Blakeney, Markel Reed
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: RETURNING: The Ordeal of Olive Oatman
- Composer: Cionek Edmund
- Libretto: Maryanne Bertollo
- Venue & Opera Company: National Opera Center, New York City
- Recorded: October 2, 2023
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Natalie Bellenger, Jeanette Blakeney, Markel Reed, Christopher Job, Edward Washington II
- Conductor: Gerald Steichen
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Jessica Medoff
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: edmundcionek
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs, gensubs
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Tribeca New Music presents a concert reading of Returning: The Ordeal of Olive Oatman,
a new 90-minute opera in three acts. Based on the true story of a Mormon girl taken captive by Native Americans, the drama takes place in the Southwestern USA in 1851. The score is by Edmund Cionek, libretto by Maryanne Bertollo, musical director is Gerald Steichen, stage direction by Jessica Medoff.
See INTERVIEW with the composer and librettist below.
Synopsis:
The opera depicts the struggles of Olive Oatman (Natalie Ballenger) once she is returned to white society. Encouraged by charismatic charlatan Reverend Royal B. Stratton (Markel Reed) and her brother Lorenzo (Edward Washington II), Olive tours America speaking of her time as an adopted daughter of the Mohave. But are her words her own? Olive must learn to regain her true voice, and heal the fractures in her soul, as she goes from popular concert speaker to wife of respected rancher John Brant Fairchild (Christopher Job). Only when she is reunited with the Mohave Chief who acted as her father does Olive have the courage to reclaim what her heart truly values. Along her life’s journey she is helped by down-to-earth madam and feminist Sarah Bowman, aka “The Great Western” (Jeanette Blakeney). The haunting score combines Western music inspired by the period, with Native American influences.