Name: Obeah Opera
Start: 2019-06-13T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2019-06-22T00:00:00.000Z
Location: The Fleck Dance Theatre

Organization

Admin

Luminato Festival

Singer

Aisha Nicholson

Performer

Arinea Hermans

Shiata Lewis

Teisha Smith-Gutherie

Nickeshia Garric

Nicole Brooks

Miranda Liverpool

Shelly Ann McLeod

Obeah Opera

Toronto

Canada

The Fleck Dance Theatre

Public

Santiago Martin Bermejo

Approved

Obeah Opera is a hand-clapping, foot-stomping, spirit-lifting, musical sensation. Steeped in Black music and sung entirely a cappella by a powerful all-female cast, Obeah Opera tells the story of the legendary Salem witch trials from the spellbinding perspective of the first woman accused, the young Caribbean slave Tituba.

In February 1692 the people of Salem, Massachusetts fell into a mass hysteria and paranoid state, which resulted in a massive witch hunt. Hundreds of people were arrested and tried for witchcraft, and over the course of a year 14 women, 5 men, and 2 dogs were executed for their supposed crimes. Although many operas, films, plays, and novels have been written about the event (most notably Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible), Tituba’s own story has never been told. Obeah Opera is a musical odyssey that offers a new take on the witch trials, slavery, and the operatic form itself.

The cast of 20 serves as both orchestra and vocal leads, as Obeah Opera redefines the traditional opera form away from its European roots, using an array of Black musical genres including spirituals, jazz, ska, Calypso, and traditional African and Caribbean folk. With an inter-disciplinary approach that incorporates musical theatre, opera, dance and Caribbean costumes, Obeah Opera is “an inspiring work. Uplifting, original, as athletic as it is musical, one can’t help but get swept up in the show’s infectious, refreshing spirit. A must see.” (Grammy Award-winner, Dan Hill)

English

Obeah Opera by Nicole Brooks, From (2019/2019), The Fleck Dance Theatre, Toronto, Canada

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Programme, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues