Champion: An Opera in Jazz | May 20 & 22, 20222022-05-25T14:00:42-04:00

Champion:
An Opera in Jazz

MAY 20 & 22 | 2022
Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

Music by Terence Blanchard
Libretto by Michael Cristofer

 

Haunted by the memories of his prize-winning boxing past, welterweight champion Emile Griffith reflects on his life as he navigates the meaning of masculinity and complex sexuality. Multi-talented composer Terence Blanchard seamlessly fuses opera and jazz styles to create this unique work based on a true story that’s not to be missed.

Champion: An Opera in Jazz contains adult themes including explicit language, non-consensual sexual situations, and physical violence.

Champion was commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and co-commissioned by Jazz St. Louis. The commissioning of Champion was made possible with a leadership gift from the Whitaker Foundation, and with generous support from the Fred M. Saigh Endowment at Opera Theatre and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funded in part by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.

Community engagement programming for Champion was supported in part by the Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, Reopen Creative Boston Fund, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

In his apartment on Long Island in the present day, Emile Griffith struggles to dress himself, confused. Luis, his adopted son, partner, and caretaker, helps him get ready for an important meeting, as Emile’s memories intensify…

In the 1950s on the island of St. Thomas, Emile is a young man who dreams of reuniting with his mother, Emelda, and becoming a hat maker, singer, and baseball player. He moves to New York City and finds her, and though she doesn’t recognize him, she is overjoyed to reunite with one of the children she left behind. She brings him to meet Howie Albert, a hat manufacturer, hoping to find Emile work. Howie sizes up Emile and immediately recognizes his potential as a boxer. He offers to train him as a welterweight, and Emile quickly develops his natural talent and physique, as Emelda urges him to give up his other dreams. But Emile is lonely and struggles with his identity. He goes to a queer bar in Times Square and meets Kathy, the owner, who welcomes him into an exciting but scary new community. Emile opens up to Kathy about his childhood and the cruelty he experienced from a fundamentalist relative.

In 1962, Emile is set to fight Benny “Kid” Paret in a high-profile match. When they face off at weigh-in, Paret taunts Emile, calling him “maricon,” a Spanish slur for homosexuals. Emile is furious, and they nearly come to blows right there. Howie pulls him away, but when Emile begins to explain why the insult hit so close to home, Howie refuses to have the conversation, telling him that the boxing world is not a place where he can be open about his sexuality. Alone, Emile wrestles with his sense of manhood and self. The fight begins and quickly becomes heated. Paret continues to mock him, and as the fight escalates, Emile delivers seventeen blows in seven seconds. Paret collapses, falls into a coma, and later dies.

Back in the present day, lost in his memories, Emile thinks that he sees Paret and speaks with him. Luis reorients him and reminds him that today, they will go to meet Paret’s son.

As the 1960s continue, mile amasses more wins, more fame, and more notoriety, but internally, he is haunted by memories of Paret and grapples with his identity. He meets and marries a woman named Sadie, against the advice of Howie and Emelda. In the 1970s, however, his luck changes. He is on a losing streak and starting to show signs of “boxer’s brain” due to chronic traumatic brain injury. Emile rejects the support of his family and Howie, returning to a queer space he frequents, outside of which he is brutally beaten by a group of bigots.

In the present, overcome with memories of the attack, Emile becomes agitated and confused; Luis calms him, reminding him all of that is in the past. They go to meet Kid Paret’s son, Benny Paret, Jr., and Luis tells Benny about Emile’s condition. Emile expresses regret and asks Benny for his forgiveness, as voices from Emile’s past intensify and crescendo in his mind.

Luis takes Emile back home. Alone once more, Emile’s memories recede and hush.

When Opera Meets Jazz: A Brief History

One day, a New York Times article made the striking announcement that there was a “Jazz Opera in View for the Metropolitan.” The company expressed interest in producing an opera of the “modern American type.” Branching out beyond the European canonical repertory, the article explained, was a necessary innovation which would “bear important fruit in the near future.” If these sentiments – a desire to expand the repertory, a commitment to foregrounding new work – sound familiar, then it may come as a surprise to learn that this article was published nearly a century ago: on November 18, 1924. What’s [...]

Brian Major

Emile Griffith

Markel Reed

Young Emile Griffith

Tichina Vaughn

Emelda Griffith

Chabrelle D. Williams

Cousin Blanche/Sadie Donastrog Griffith

Jesus Garcia

Luis Rodrigo Griffith

Terrence Chin-Loy

Benny “The Kid” Paret / Benny Paret, Jr.

Wayne Tigges

Howie Albert

Stephanie Blythe

Kathy Hagen

Jonathan Harris

Little Emile Griffith

Neal Ferreira

Ring Announcer

Nicholas LaGesse

Man in the Bar/ A Young Man

Kwamé Ryan

Conductor

Timothy Douglas

Stage Director

Darius Barnes

Movement Director

Rocio Mendez

Intimacy Director

Sara Brown

Set Designer

Trevor Bowen

Costume Designer

Marcus Doshi

Lighting Designer

J. Jared Janas

Wig-Makeup Designer

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

219 Tremont Street | Boston, MA | 02116

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

Recognized as a Boston Historic Landmark, the Cutler Majestic combines state-of-the-art theater facilities and old world charm with impeccable acoustics originally intended for opera performances.

Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre | BARBER OF SEVILLE | OCT 12–21 | Boston Lyric Opera

SEATING
Seating is divided into three levels: Orchestra, Mezzanine, and Balcony.

The Mezzanine and Balcony are accessible by stairs in the main lobby; there is no elevator access to these levels.The Mezzanine overhangs the Orchestra after row K.

ACCESSIBILITY
There is no elevator access to the Mezzanine and Balcony.
Restrooms are located in the lower lobby and accessible by elevator.
There are 30+ stairs to reach the Mezzanine and 60+ stairs to reach the Balcony.
Listening devices are available at the box office windows in the lobby.

RESTROOMS
Restrooms for all patrons are on the balcony level and the lower lobby level.

COAT CHECK
There is no coat check available at the Cutler Majestic Theatre

COVID-19 Policy
Please view the Cutler Majestic’s Shared Code of Conduct page for the theater’s COVID-19 protocols. All patrons attending any production at the Cutler Majestic must be in compliance with the venue’s Shared Code of Conduct.

For press images, please visit
Champion: An Opera in Jazz Media Kit

PRESS

A revelation! ‘Champion’ punches above its weight”
A theatrical coup! The concert-style staging didn’t break immersion; to the contrary, it enhanced it.”

The Boston Globe

First-rate! Terence Blanchard keeps the score swinging throughout.”
The Arts Fuse

I was excited when Boston called and said that they wanted to produce “Champion” years ago — and all of a sudden the pandemic hit, and then it kind of just threw things out of whack. But I’m glad to see that we’re back on track. And I’m excited because, you know, Boston is one of those towns that has a serious music history.
Terence Blanchard (interview with WGBH)

“’It’s really a story about people, it’s a story about acceptance, and the things that society chooses to accept and the things that society chooses to condemn,’ says (Brian) Major. ‘There is a striking quote from Griffith himself that punctuates the show. I killed a man and the world forgives me; I love a man and the world wants to kill me.’”
Bay State Banner

“Redemption is the key. Because the whole opera is based on [Griffith] having a flashback as an elderly man suffering from dementia. But once he gets to meet Benny Paret, Jr. at the end of the performance, who tells him the family doesn’t harbor any ill will toward [Griffith], he just loses it. To see that this man had been carrying the weight of this event throughout his life, you know, to be redeemed in such a way by a family member I know had to be something that was really special for him.”
The Boston Globe

Cast Photos

Season artwork created by Myung Hee Cho.

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