As Houston Grand Opera prepares for the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s latest masterpiece, Intelligence, Franci Neely is celebrating what she anticipates will be the next smash hit on the opera scene. Neely has underwritten the prolific opera writer’s latest work, which is based on the true story of two courageous women who worked as spies for the Union during the American Civil War. Intelligence will take over Houston Grand Opera Oct. 20 through Nov. 3.
This unique opera that caught Franci Neely’s discerning eye offers a glimpse into the life of Mary Jane Bowser, who some historians believe was also known as Mary Jane Richards Denman. She was born into slavery in the household of the Van Lews, a prosperous Confederate family in Richmond, Virginia. During the war, Bowser worked with Elizabeth Van Lew, daughter of the family patriarch, in a pro-Union spy operation that involved placing her in the Confederate White House.
Heggie teamed up with librettist Gene Scheer and director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar for Intelligence. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton portrays Van Lew, while soprano Janai Brugger brings Bowser’s character to life. Barton previously played Sister Helen Prejean in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at the Atlanta Opera. She has a rich history of other successful endeavors with Heggie, including her album Unexpected Shadows, which was nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Conductor Kwamé Ryan will make his Houston Grand Opera debut, too.
“Opera is so dramatic,” Neely says. “It’s going to be a sensation.”
It’s not simple subject matter but shedding light on complex situations is something Jake Heggie never seems to shy away from in his work.
He composed a 10-minute opera titled Again, which depicts an imagined abusive relationship between Ricky Ricardo and Lucille Ball. In exchange for the opportunity to remain youthful and attractive, these characters are doomed to repeat their mistakes for eternity.
He set Cinderella 99 during the challenging, monotonous days of the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote it about a family whose children are going off to college and instead get forced to spend too much time together.
Jake Heggie Reminisces Upon Musical Roots
There’s an undeniable authenticity to Heggie’s work. He writes his operas in American English and he says that’s why his operas sound American and the music itself is defined by who is writing it.
“I come from a school where I was influenced heavily by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim,” Heggie said in an interview on the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s YouTube channel. “I even dedicated the opera Moby-Dick to Stephen Sondheim, because of his influence on me. But I’m also heavily influenced by the French composers and certainly by the great Italian opera composers and all the pop artists that I grew up listening to like Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. That’s what’s exciting now about American music. There is no one definition. I think it’s an authenticity that comes from the cultural background of the person who is the composer who is embracing everything that they’ve learned and heard and experienced and filtering through their imagination out to the public.”
A classically trained pianist from an early age, Heggie said he started writing music at the age of 11. He admits he immediately became enamored with movie musicals and the theaters and instantly connected with the iconic music of George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and others.
His initial opera, Dead Man Walking, debuted Oct. 7, 2000, in San Francisco and it will open this season of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on Sept. 26. Franci Neely says she’s looking forward to being present for that opening, too. Dead Man Walking chronicles a nun’s real-life journey as a spiritual leader to a convicted murderer on death row in Louisiana’s state penitentiary.
Houston Grand Opera announced on its Facebook page it would be using the month of September to host a series of public events leading up to the Oct. 20 premiere of Intelligence, including a Sept. 18 discussion with Heggie and “Let The Truth Be Told” conversation about Intelligence on Sept. 25.
Much like Neely’s mission to bring opera to the masses, Houston Grand Opera is generating buzz around the ancient Italian art form in the hopes of attracting larger, more diverse audiences to the genre.
Neely says opera has something to offer everyone and it’s not something that requires any previous knowledge or experience to enjoy.
“Anybody can appreciate opera,” Franci Neely emphasizes.
She adds that many operas these days, including Intelligence, have taken the smart approach of offering timely themes.
Franci Neely Sees Opera as Art With Universal Appeal
“I think people would be surprised,” she says. “There’s a lot of commissioning of new work with very, very current themes, timely themes. And, at least to my knowledge, that’s attracting young people, diverse audiences, people who don’t necessarily have any track record with the opera.”
Franci Neely, a world traveler who has maintained pen pals over the years from Cameroon to the Philippines, says her infinite passion for opera was a natural catalyst to form a friendship with Heggie and his husband, Curt Branom.
“Jake and I met many years ago,” Neely recalls. “And I’m fairly sure it was when he was in Houston working on one of his operas that Houston Grand Opera had commissioned. Of course, everyone loves Jake.”
Over the years, Neely says her bond with Heggie and Branom has only grown closer.
“I just followed his career for well over a decade,” Franci Neely explains of her fierce bond with Heggie. “And he’s very dear to me.”
Neely sums up Intelligence in one word: “Extraordinary.” The ambitious reader encourages everyone to search for the synopsis of the show online and, of course, see the show when it hits Houston Grand Opera this fall.
“I’ve heard the music in progress. And it’s just going to be a stunner,” Neely says. “It’s just a remarkable story. I’ll be there on Oct. 20.”
Intelligence runs Oct. 20 through Nov. 3 at Houston Grand Opera. Tickets cost $25 to $210 and are available at houstongrandopera.org.
