"Doctor Atomic"...revisionism of science history

Oh my, I don't think opera will be same again. It is a delight to see the tremendous ethical issues involved in the production and deployment of a nuclear weapon. Atonement for such decisions is inevitable and this particular event will be debated forever with no resolution..The sets were...simplistic as counter posed to the dilemma suggested. It is worth a second viewing.

Doctor Atomic Libretto


"Doctor Atomic"...a reminder

"Doctor Atomic"...a reminder

Just a reminder that this evening on PBS's Great Performances at the Met the new opera "Doctor Atomic" will be performed.


"Doctor Atomic"--Great Performances at the Met

"Doctor Atomic"--Great Performances at the Met

PBS on Monday evening [December 29th] will offer Great Performances at the Met's opera "Doctor Atomic"..."John Adams's contemporary masterpiece explores a momentous episode of modern history: the creation of the atomic bomb. Movie director Penny Woolcock makes her Met debut with this production. Baritone Gerald Finley plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the title character, in this gripping adaptation of a story that changed the course of world history. Alan Gilbert conducts...."


"Doctor Atomic"

"Doctor Atomic"

"Those who most long for peace now pour their lives on war."
Kitty Oppenheimer [played by Sasha Cooke]

Okay, opera is not for everyone...no car crashes, no superheroes fighting a city's evil elements, no computer graphic images but it does have tragedy and much introspection and I suspect that the current production of "Doctor Atomic" is dripping with personal angst...existential dilemmas--annihilation of thousands of humans.

"The Terror and Attraction of Science, Put to Song"