Not so Happy Joy Joy

On Friday night, Edna and I went to the State Theatre to see Dead Man Walking. An opera based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean that has also been a movie with Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

After trying to get rid of the spare tickets we had (two people committed to go but then pulled out without reimbursing Edna), we made our way into the theatre and managed to get ourselves seats in the front row of the dress circle. Sweet.

The opening scene was two youngsters canoodling on the stage in the buff, then being raped and murdered. It was harrowing, but then I suppose that’s was the point. The opera is about a murderer on death row and the nun that becomes attached to him and the parents of his victims. It ended as it started with the death, by lethal injection, of Joseph De Rocher, the murderer.

The whole thing was very well done, with the stage having three floors and the orchestra sitting on the floors in blue prison jump suits. There were film flashes of real events and real pictures. Edna was particularly impressed when Teddy Tahu Rhodes (Joseph De Rocher) managed twenty press-ups while singing. I was impressed by his abs.

Anyway, the whole was very good, but made for a less than happy joy joy evening. I went home a cried.