Rain (opera)

Last updated

Rain, originally entitled Sadie Thompson (1997), is an American opera by Richard Owen, based on the 1921 short story Rain by Somerset Maugham. The first version, named not after the story title, but like the 1928 Gloria Swanson film named after the female leading character, Sadie Thompson, was premiered 20 November 1997. [1] [2] The revised version of the opera, Rain, was premiered by Camerata New York at Alice Tully Hall 20 February 2003. [3] A recording of the 2003 performances was issued on Albany Records. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. Somerset Maugham</span> English playwright and author (1874–1965)

William Somerset Maugham was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He became a medical student in London and qualified as a physician in 1897. He never practised medicine, and became a full-time writer. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. By 1908 he had four plays running at once in the West End of London. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories.

The Letter may refer to:

Sadie Thompson is a 1928 American silent drama film that tells the story of a "fallen woman" who comes to Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila to start a new life, but encounters a zealous missionary who wants to force her back to her former life in San Francisco. The film stars Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore, and Raoul Walsh, and is one of Swanson's most successful films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Grand Opera</span> American opera company

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians, the company is resident at the Wortham Theater Center. This theatre is also home to the Houston Ballet. In its history, the company has received a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards, and three Emmy Awards, the only opera company in the world to win these three honours. Houston Grand Opera is supported by an active auxiliary organization, the Houston Grand Opera Guild, established in October 1955.

<i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i> 1912 opera by Richard Strauss

Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's principal themes: the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael John LaChiusa</span> American musical theatre and opera composer

Michael John LaChiusa is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party, and See What I Wanna See. He was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2000 for his score and book for both Marie Christine and The Wild Party and received another nomination in 1996 for his work on the libretto for Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

Rain is a type of precipitation in which liquid drops of water fall toward the surface of the earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Preer</span> American actress and singer

Evelyn Preer, was a pioneering American stage and screen actress and jazz and blues singer of the 1910s through the early 1930s. Preer was known within the black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."

<i>Rain</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Rain is a 1932 pre-Code drama film that stars Joan Crawford as prostitute Sadie Thompson. Directed by Lewis Milestone and set in the South Seas, the production was filmed in part at Santa Catalina Island and what is now Crystal Cove State Park in California. The film also features Walter Huston in the role of a conflicted missionary who insists that Sadie end her evil ways, but whose own moral standards and self-righteous behavior steadily decay. Crawford was loaned out by MGM to United Artists for this film.

<i>Miss Sadie Thompson</i> 1953 film by Curtis Bernhardt

Miss Sadie Thompson is a 1953 3-D American musical romantic drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Rita Hayworth, José Ferrer, and Aldo Ray. The film was released by Columbia Pictures. The film is based on W. Somerset Maugham's 1921 short story "Miss Thompson". Other film versions include Sadie Thompson (1928) starring Gloria Swanson, Rain (1932) starring Joan Crawford, and Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. (1946).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeramie Rain</span> American actress

Jeramie Rain is an American screenwriter, producer, philanthropist and former actress. Rain began her career with starring roles in several local stage productions in Charleston before moving to New York City in the early 1970s. After appearing in a string of commercials, she made her film debut in the crime film The Abductors (1972), then became known for roles as Sadie in Wes Craven's controversial horror film The Last House on the Left (1972) and Willie Mae in Albert T. Viola's comedy film Preacherman Meets Widderwoman (1973).

<i>The Letter</i> (play)

The Letter is a 1927 play by W. Somerset Maugham, dramatised from a short story that first appeared in his 1926 collection The Casuarina Tree. The story was inspired by the real-life Ethel Proudlock case which involved the wife of the headmaster of Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April 1911. She was eventually pardoned.

<i>Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A.</i> 1946 American film

Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. is a 1946 race film directed by Spencer Williams and produced and distributed by Sack Amusement Enterprises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sadie Thompson Inn</span> United States historic place

The Sadie Thompson Inn is a historic building in Malaloa, one of the constituent villages of Pago Pago in American Samoa. The building is noted as the guest house where from mid-December 1916 author W. Somerset Maugham resided for six weeks during an extended trip through the South Sea Islands. He described it as a "dilapidated lodging house with a corrugated tin roof" and complained that he contracted "a stubborn rash, no doubt fungus" while at the hotel, and of the weeks it took to cure it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rain (short story)</span> Short story by William Somerset Maugham

"Rain" is a short story by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham. It was originally published as "Miss Thompson" in the April 1921 issue of the American literary magazine The Smart Set, and was included in the collection of stories by Maugham The Trembling of a Leaf.

Malaloa is a sub-village of Fagatogo and is located at the end of Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa. It is located in-between Fagatogo proper and the village of Pago Pago. Cruising boats entering and leaving Pago Pago should clear at Malaloa Marina. The Malaloa Marina was opened for cruisers’ use and has added a customs wharf to handle inbound and outbound clearances.

Sadie Thompson is a 1944 musical in two acts and three scenes by composer Vernon Duke and lyricist Howard Dietz. The musical book was written by Dietz and Rouben Mamoulian and is based on the short story "Rain" by W. Somerset Maugham which was published in the literary magazine The Smart Set in 1921. Originally written as a vehicle for Ethel Merman, the actress withdrew from production on September 29, 1944 after just a week and a half of rehearsals, and the lead part went to June Havoc instead. The work premiered at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia on October 26, 1944 where it ran for two weeks of tryout performances before moving to New York. The original production was produced by A. P. Waxman, directed by Mamoulian, and choreographed by Edward Caton. Boris Aronson designed the sets, and the Motley Theatre Design Group designed the costumes.

Sadie Thompson refers to the main character from "Rain" by W. Somerset Maugham (1921). Several adaptations of that story exist with that title:

The playwright, novelist and short-story writer W. Somerset Maugham, was a prolific author from the late 19th century until the 1960s. Most of his earliest successes were for the theatre, but he gave up writing plays after 1932. Many of his plays have been adapted for broadcasting and the cinema, as have several of his novels and short stories. The New York Times commented in 1964, "There are times when one thinks that British television and radio would have to shut up shop if there were not an apparently inexhaustible supply of stories by Maugham to turn into 30-minute plays. One recalls, too, the long list of movies that have been made from his novels − Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, The Painted Veil, The Razor's Edge and the rest.

The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands is a collection of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, first published in New York in 1921 by the George H. Doran Company.

References

  1. Janet Allon, “From Court House to Opera House,” NYT (Nov. 16, 1997): CT, 6; “Music,” NYT (November 16, 1997):
  2. Operas in English: A Dictionary Margaret Ross Griffel - 2012 Page 429 0810883252 "Sadie Thompson, opera by Richard Owen; libretto (Eng) by the composer, after Somerset Maugham's short story Rain (1921). First performance November 20, ..."
  3. New York (magazine) Volumes 35-36 - Page 99 2003 Camerata New York Richard Owen's new opera. Rain, is based on Somerset Maughams's story about a prostitute and a missionary in the South Seas.
  4. Albany Records - Rain