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STREAMING THE FIRST CENTURY

Dead Man Walking at 25

San Francisco Opera presented the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking on October 7, 2000. The work has gone on to have more than 80 productions worldwide, making it the most-performed American opera of our time. For the work's 2025 return to the War Memorial Opera House stage, San Francisco Opera spoke with participants from the original production about the work's genesis and reverberating impact 25 years later.

Prelude: 1994-1998

Elena Park, Lotfi Mansouri, and Jake Heggie


"Flicka took an immediate liking to Jake, and he just adored her"- Elena Park

"I could see her [Flicka] thinking, oh, the PR guy writes songs. Yay.  But then she was playing through them, and she said, 'These are so beautiful'" - Jake Heggie

The Commission: 1997-2000

Jake Heggie, Terrence McNally, Patrick Summers, Joe Mantello

 

"The whole creation of the piece is this series of magical doors and coincidences" - Jake Heggie

 

"I was over the moon to be asked to do Dead Man Walking" - Frederica von Stade

 

R & D: 1998-2000

 
John Packard as Joseph de Rocher, Dead Man Walking, 2000. Photographer: Ken Friedman/ SF Opera

 

"You have to do it right" - Lori Harrison

 

"That’s when I realized I was in the arts, was Dead Man Walking, and that we were here to put the best we can in front of the audience" - John Del Bono

 

Rehearsals: 1999-2000

 


Jerry Sherk, Jake Heggie, and Joe Mantello

"Even with a piano workshop where people are basically learning their roles, just sort of hashing through things, it was obvious that this was going to be a piece of some significance" - Kip Cranna

Opening Night: October 7, 2000

Jake Heggie, Susan Graham, Terrence McNally, and Robert Orth

"There’s that feeling in an audience, that kind of electricity, that chemistry. It's hard to describe, but it was there" - Kip Cranna  

 

"if I hadn’t done Dead Man Walking I honestly don’t know where I would be, because it ignited a passion for opera that had not been there" - Megan Kellogg

 

Dead Man Walking at 25


Brian Stauffer / Illustration

"Things changed after Dead Man Walking in the repertoire. People started taking more risks" - Catherine Cook

 

"These are big questions posed by that opera. And it doesn't give you the answer. You have to find the answer yourself" - Jake Heggie

 

Dead Man Walking at 25: storytellers and complete transcripts

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Co-Editors, DMW at 25

Jeffery McMillan / Barbara Rominski

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