May 20, 2025 7:00 PM The Woodlawn Operas

american opera projects ANd NYU Tisch School of the Arts’
Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program & DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN FOR STAGE & FILM
present

The woodlawn operas

Please join us in the Woolworth Chapel for a presentation of "The Woodlawn Operas" by the American Opera Projects and the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Inspired by notable individuals buried at Woodlawn, students from the NYU Tisch Opera Lab will perform three operas at Woodlawn.

Visions of Drag

Music byZiyan Yang
Libretto by Andi Lee Carter  

The Queen of Liberation / Gileann Tan, Soprano, Angie Xtravaganza/ Ilene Pabon, Mezzo-soprano, RuPaul / Lindell O. Carter, Tenor, Bert Savoy / Eliam Ramos, Bass-baritone

Bert Savoy is the Queen of Vaudeville, but he is about to get fatally zapped by a bolt of lightning. In the seconds before his death, he receives a vision from three fabulous queens who show him the future of drag. Bert sees the work of his own life reflected through the three different queens as each vision builds on the last, drawing Bert--and the audience--toward the realization that the struggle for visibility and acceptance is evolving but ongoing.

Styx & Stones

MUSIC BY Kat Cartusciello
LIBRETTO BY Jessie Field

Donna / Kelly Glyptis, Soprano, Penelope/ Gileann Tan, Soprano, Charon / Yoojin Lee, Mezzo-soprano, Brandon / Lindell O. Carter, Tenor

Every day is the same for Charon, who ferries newly deceased souls across the River Styx (if they can pay, that is). Until Penelope and Donna, an old married couple, wash up on the shore of the Styx together. When they realize only Donna is able to pay the fare to cross, they attempt to move death itself with their love so that they may cross together. Inspired by Patricia Cronin's Woodlawn Cemetery monument "Memorial to a Marriage," "Styx & Stones" mourns time, celebrates love & marriage equality, and existentially investigates death.

What do you see?

MUSIC BY Andy Li
LIBRETTO BY Sravya Saraswatula

Anna Hyatt Huntington / Kelly Glyptis, Soprano, Human/Greyhound 1 / Ilene Pabon, Mezzo-soprano, Human/Greyhound 2 / Yoojin Lee, Mezzo-soprano, Alexander Archipenko / Eliam Ramos, Bass-baritone

Woodlawn Cemetery. A day away from now. Restless spirits stirring in sculptures of Anna Huntington and Alexander Archipenko find each other awake in the middle of the journey to eternal sleep. They talk to each other about their art and their beliefs. They argue about and criticize each other's aesthetic.

For More Information about the NYU Opera Lab, please click here.