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Dennis Cleveland

by Mikel Rouse

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1.
PRELUDE: We Deliver Guests: Age of reason Age of reason Age of reason Dennis Cleveland: The mark of the true believer- unbuttoned and paraphrased to death- is the vapid look, the right between the eyes. The conformity that passes for individualism. It is the most widely exercised form of cross-breeding known to man. The animist watusi. The recovered memory. The sound of the gun at post time. The confusion of animals riding other animals. Knowing where you stand. The idea of self-help books as literature. A blurring of titles like Women who love too much and the men that negotiate them. The fertile land rover The memory set. One lacks form, desire, zest for life; a set of principles to live by. But most disturbing: lacks the ability to make money. In this highly charged atmosphere decisions are made, faults are flaunted, dishonesty looms. And in the back pocket of every free man: The Bottle. (Pause for reflection) There is a small miracle that takes place. Everyone is involved. Everyone participates. And in this communal atmosphere there are great explosions. There are myths of competency. And it all lasts about two hours. The lag time between miracles is life. The population boom. The ultimate prelude: We Deliver
2.
LIFE IN THESE UNITED STATES Dennis Cleveland: Angela, Angela, Angela. Angela, Angela, Angela. Angela, Angela, Angela. Guests: Life in these United States Life in these United States Guest #1: When I get my sex on I like to position if I can’t position then I ain’t enjoyin’ it. When I get my sex on I like to position if I can’t position then I ain’t enjoyin’ it. Guest #2: That’s messed up man. Guest #3: Open up, open up to me. Open up, open up to me. Guest #1: Guest #2: Guest #3: When I get my sex on I like to position That’s messed up man. Open up, open up to me. if I can’t position then I ain’t enjoyin’ it. That’s messed up man. Open up, open up to me. When I get my sex on I like to position That’s messed up man. Open up, open up to me. if I can’t position then I ain’t enjoyin’ it. That’s messed up man. Open up, open up to me. Guest #4: She sits on a chair, eats, drinks, smokes, watch talk shows. She sits on a chair, eats, drinks, smokes, watch talk shows. No you don’t. Guest #2: Oh yes I do, yes I do. No you don’t. Oh yes I do, yes I do. No you don’t. Oh yes I do, yes I do. No you don’t. Oh yes I do, yes I do. Guests: Life in these United States Life in these United States Dennis Cleveland: Look at her now! Look at her now! Look at her now! Look at her now! Dennis Cleveland: Guest #4: Look at her now! I know, but she’s changed on me! Look at her now! I know, but she’s changed on me! Look at her now! I know, but she’s changed on me! Look at her now! I know, but she’s changed on me! Guest #3: If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. Guest #1: My way or the highway straight up! Guest #3: Well you know there’s a byway too…Whoo! My way or the highway straight up! Guest #3: Well you know there’s a byway too…Whoo! Dennis Cleveland: Guests: Angela, Angela, Angela. If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. Angela, Angela, Angela. If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. Angela, Angela, Angela. If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. Angela, Angela, Angela. If you don’t love me the way I am then you can go. Guests: Life in these United States Life in these United States States States States States States States States States States States States
3.
Soul Train 17:41
SOUL TRAIN Chorus (Guests): Soul train unchained All set: U-bet In frame I claim sunset We’ve met Dennis Cleveland: I was walkin’ on the earth. The planet earth was blue. I was sittin’ by the road. By the road’s where I met you. Your ideas were kinda strange- ‘made me think of flying trees I declared my love for you; I got down on my knees. We set out for destiny: The place where all ends meet. We were gassing up the car, we were caught up in the heat And down the road appeared a light. It was a blinding sort of thing and both our hearts began to swell. I thought I heard the angels sing: Guests: I’m glad if you’re glad I’m sad if you’re sad I’m glad if you’re glad I’m sad if you’re sad Guest #1: It was a simple kind of verse, not profound in any way. But as I tried to catch your eye your mirage began to sway. And I thought: How can it be that a mindless sort of phrase could encourage this response… could put this woman in a daze? She said, “Baby can’t you see that our meeting wasn’t chance? That by sitting by the road you were waiting for this dance. “And the power of suggestion in this moment, on this day, is the way we make religion: how we make up what to pray.” Who’d’ve thought I’d find a meaning on the road and all alone. Think: A group of lonely people create a King, create a Throne. I live, I live for the moment Uptight, uptight for the moment Lonely, lonely for the moment Only, only for the moment Audience member #1: This time last year I was into a twenty year old experience and I often think about her. Now, this girl was really beautiful and also very bright and I swear to God I thought she was at least as old as the current girl I was being unfaithful to. (26) We get to talking and I find out she’s just turned twenty and some type of alarm should be going off but it isn’t. We make a date for breakfast. This is my favorite time to meet people. When I show up her legs are so long that they pour out of the booth and onto the floor and an alarm should be going off but it isn’t. The mornings I’ve spent at this coffee shop meeting people. We chat and make a date for that evening and as we say goodbye I tell her that she’s fun to look at. I take her to my favorite bar which is a slightly redone version of the original bar.She mistakes the Rolling Stones for a more recent aberration and an alarm… We end up at my place after a brief stop. Back at home I don’t even know how this topic comes up but somehow it surfaces that she’s a virgin and we have a great laugh about it until I realize she’s not joking. Like most great American myths I haven’t bought into, this virgin idea is no great shake. But now I’m starting to feel anxious and I couldn’t have known why but what happened later is remarkable. Her parents want to meet me. Well, I never even did something like that when I was her age, but it’s clear that this isn’t an unreasonable idea. Besides, her folks are really progressive. They’re also really loaded. They own their own building. I think they made their fortune from being in on the ground floor of some fossil fuel development. Anyway, like I said, they’re very liberal in that New York way that you can’t totally trust. It’s only on the day that we’re supposed to meet that I find out that they’re leaving town for the weekend and are expecting that the de-flowering of their daughter will take place on the premises. All they expect is to meet me and make sure I’m not some madman from Missouri. All in all, pretty progressive. Guests: I claim sunset Audience members: We’ve met Soul train unchained We’ve met All set: U-bet Soul train unchained In frame I claim All set: U-bet Sunset we’ve met In frame I claim Soul train unchained Sunset we’ve met Sunset we’ve met All set: U-bet Soul train unchained Soul train unchained
4.
BEAUTIFUL MURDERS Audience member #1: This time the finger that I put into the pie ‘sgonna be a gold retriever, not just pointing to the sky. This time the mystery, the questioning of life will surrender to addiction; the celebrity of hype. This time the mandate that you passed off on the world will be shuffling the money leaving nothing left to earn. This time the finger that I put into the pie ‘sgonna be the qualifier, the excuse to say goodbye. Guests: Dennis Cleveland: Beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful, beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful, beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Audience member #2: This time the murders that you worship from afar gonna join you in the bedroom, maybe meet you at the bar. This time the magazines that guide your every move will be slipping information through the glossy interlude. This time the plastic that connects you to the world will be borrowing your image to reflect its deep concern. This time the finger that I put into the pie ‘sgonna be the last reminder of the simple corporate lie. Guests: Dennis Cleveland: Beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful, beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful, beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Guest #3: It’s the Real Thing in the pocket to burn to stand in line and take your turn. To motion sickness to mothers milk at the turn of the century it’s the murder mill. And the safety in numbers that you got from TV, that you got from the Movies, that you got from maybe… is the line to oven where nothin’ spells lovin’ like the plank that you walked when you gave up the talk. The momentum it’s a given that there’s nothin’ gonna be left around for this reason: When the time was there you built another hotel. Billy goat don’t know the difference from wholesale, gonna be the prominent mobile, upscale, got no point in the middle of life so you take all the love in one night. Guests: Dennis Cleveland: Beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful, beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful murders Celebrity all the time Beautiful, beautiful murders Celebrity all the time
5.
APPARENT MONEY Guests: Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Dennis Cleveland: I’d like to talk to you about money Audience member #3: A moment, that’s all I ask for, a moment or two of your time. A bucket of sand and a flask-full to hold your attention to mine. In truth, I am not a receiver; I’ve never set foot on the beach. But that morning I just could not leave her: her mirage was the measure to reach. Audience mender #3 + Dennis Cleveland: All my life I’ve been loveless Guests: L-O-V-E-L-E-S Out of spite and above it L-O-V-E-L-E-S Look, if I can create this L-O-V-E-L-E-S Then the sky is the limit L-O-V-E-L-E-S Audience members: And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings Guest #1: At a nearby clam bar I accept the message… that my time here has finally been defined. I have no regrets, certainly no remorse for the period that has passed. The occasion spent searching- well, searching is a bit strong-or misleading; I was mostly watching TV… but still, hoping for some idea of purpose. Days would come and go. I loved coffee shops. I loved bars. Bars with talk shows especially. These weren’t just stop offs-they passed as life. And life takes a shape, turns it ’round, has a conversation with itself, is oblivious to passions, to mistakes, to favorite foods, to the rise and fall. The rise from Luna Park and over the sea wall: the parachute drop. The decline and fall of a near city. Crossed off a vacationer’s list and paraphrased to death. It is in my best interest (a thought enters my head) to snoop around this place so that Dreamland should not happen to me. The descendants of Steeple Chase: their lives gone, and where they lived and played gone, so that any meaning remaining would be, so to speak, up for grabs. So much so, like the meaning of money: cold hard cash- that you could hold; use it to hold over others heads. Money is everywhere-turn around and it’s there. (Ending the summit of apparent money) Money is everywhere-turn around and it’s there.Guests: Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Audience members: And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Audience member #4: I take walks and it’s some consolation that the mind is a blank most ‘the time. I have mastered the art of creation if creation’s attendant to rhyme. I’m content in my own observation: for saints this is how it must be. If no answer appears on the station I inherit another TV. Audience member #4 + Dennis Cleveland: All my life I’ve been loveless Guests: L-O-V-E-L-E-S Out of spite and above it L-O-V-E-L-E-S Look, if I can create this L-O-V-E-L-E-S Then the sky is the limit L-O-V-E-L-E-S Audience members: And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings And leave And leave off the last ‘S’ for savings Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Money Money, Mon-ey Money Ending the summit Audience member #5: Born to crawl, born to walk, born to end-run. In a uniform dressed in a suit. And the numerous takes under the sun draws a line in the sand I can shoot. The bombardment from TV is endless. I can bear it with suitable ire. The unwinding of constant remembrance brings to mind an unspeakable choir. Audience member #5 + Dennis Cleveland: All my life I’ve been loveless Guests: L-O-V-E-L-E-S Out of spite and above it L-O-V-E-L-E-S Look, if I can create this….
6.
WHY ARE YOU HERE TODAY (She Feels Like) Dennis Cleveland: Why are you here today? There’s gotta be some place else. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah You have been with Michael for four years. How’d you get back together again Guests:Yeah,yeah,yeah You, you… this is the woman that you love? Do you want to marry her? Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah She feels that you let her down though. She feels that you let her down though. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah She feels like she gave you so much. She feels like she gave you so much. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah She feels like you let her down though. She feels like she gave you so much. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah A person you trust, a person you’re close to, a person you’re vulnerable with. A person you trust, a person you’re close to, a person you’re vulnerable with. A person you trust, a person you’re close to, a person you’re vulnerable with. She feels that you let her down though. She feels that you let her down though. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah She feels like she gave you so much. She feels like she gave you so much. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah She feels like you let her down though. She feels like she gave you so much. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah Why are you here today? There’s gotta be some place else. A person you trust, a person you’re close to, a person you’re vulnerable with. You have been with Michael for four years. How’d you get back together again? A person you trust, a person you’re close to, a person you’re vulnerable with. You, you… this is the woman that you love? Do you want to marry her? A person you trust, a person you’re close to, a person you’re vulnerable with. She feels that you let her down though. She feels that you let her down though. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah She feels like she gave you so much. She feels like she gave you so much. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah She feels like you let her down though. She feels like she gave you so much. Guests: Yeah, yeah, yeah Guest #2: He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. Guest #5: He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. He went out that night, met a girl an’ married her. He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. He went out that night, met a girl an’ married her. He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. He went out that night, met a girl an’ married her. He’s outa there. I want him gone. He’s outa there. He went out that night, met a girl an’ married her.
7.
ALTERED BODIES Dennis Cleveland: You’re better off, I think, in limbo Falling apart, inflated eh eh ego Guests: (Over and out, an age, an age of reason) (Caroling arms, a race for every season) Dennis Cleveland: You kinda beat the road for info You can believe I’m not a a wide load Guests: (Blind to the world, to gone to care what time sees) (Defining yourself you lose, you alter bodies) Audience member #11: The pins, the puns as you gather together The flesh, the bone, the remarkable leather Guests: Currency of doubt reflect away Legacy about to over-stay Welcome to all out: the table-sway Being to be not, it doesn’t pay Dennis Cleveland: I think it’s better If you model the face that way. Guests: Imaging: Altered Bodies Imaging Imaging: Altered Bodies Altered Bodies See Altered Bodies Imaging: Altered Bodies Imaging Imaging: Altered Bodies Altered Bodies See Altered Bodies Dennis Cleveland: The motivation speaks an insight Filling a hole in the soul and that night… Guests: (Over and out, an age, an age of reason) (Caroling arms, a race for every season) Dennis Cleveland: You got a lease on life, an outlook Sitting alone you notice what the time took Guests: (Blind to the world, to gone to care what time sees) (Defining yourself you lose, you alter bodies) Audience member #11: The face is fun, it seem so familiar The lines and marks disappear with the gender Guests: Currency of doubt reflect away Legacy about to over-stay Welcome to all out: the table-sway Being to be not, it doesn’t pay Dennis Cleveland: My pain is permanent. Cancel at any time. Guests: Imaging: Altered Bodies Imaging Imaging: Altered Bodies Altered Bodies See Altered Bodies Imaging: Altered Bodies Imaging Imaging: Altered Bodies Altered Bodies See Altered Bodies Audience member #11: The pins, the puns as you gather together The flesh, the bone, the remarkable leather Guests: Currency of doubt reflect away Legacy about to over-stay Welcome to all out: the table-sway Being to be not, it doesn’t pay Dennis Cleveland: Blind to the world, to gone to care what time sees Defining yourself you lose, you alter bodies Guests: Imaging: Altered Bodies Imaging Imaging: Altered Bodies Altered Bodies See Altered Bodies Imaging: Altered Bodies Imaging Imaging: Altered Bodies Altered Bodies See Altered Bodies Audience members: Give it up in the age of reason Give it up in the age of reason Give it up in the age of reason Give it up in the age of reason
8.
MADISON SQUARE Audience members: In fact, in fact Gimme some fact in Gimme some fact in In fact Audience member #1: It’s always hard to tell when to listen close. There must be the real advice and the auto-pilot advice. It takes a real event for a person to step outside of themselves and give the real advice and each person can only define the real event from their own perspective because to look beyond that would require alot more work than most people can fit in between the work week, the family, the movies, self awareness, shopping, countless forms of recreation. All these things must define the real event and in 1995 the real event for most people is the movies. Dennis Cleveland: I’ve been waiting for this: a potential arcade with a salary twist and a spicy new blade that I run ’round my wrist kind of capturing calm, instead of diving for dollars and righting past wrongs. I could have called for back-up, back-up and leveling time. Cause a break in the tableau of American crime. Instead of crossing what lingers in the state of lip balm And saluting the mentors kind of capturing calm Guests: And the line that I walk is just to calibrate all the time that I spend alone and out of date. It’s a single in motion, it’s a tidal wave of the closet containing all the souls I save. Audience member #3: Boy do I know this stretch of eighth avenue. I’ve never set foot in any of these places, but their neon signs are all familiar. Their smells are all familiar. The people who go in and out are all familiar. I could tell you anything about any of these places without ever having gone to them. Take Madison Square Garden. Only the wildest sort of folks go there. They go there to see these things called monster trucks and Billy Joel. It’s hard to believe that Madison Square Garden wasn’t always on eighth avenue, but it wasn’t. I think it was once uptown on the west side. These things take on the meaning of monuments and it’s only when you’ve lived long enough to see them move or be torn down that you can really comprehend the impermanence of things and I guess it depends alot on your upbringing how that will effect and shape your world view. I’m forever looking for meaning in everything so the thought of all this building and unbuilding tends to enforce a certain hopelessness. I could imagine that a developer is looking for meaning and most likely the more things move around, get torn down and put somewhere else, the more meaning it has for him. I’m sure it has alot to do with upbringing. Guest 1, 2 & Audience member #1: Audience members 2, 3, & 4: They’ll be dreams, they’ll be uneven heals And the line that I walk Dead charades: they’re bound for cotton fields is just to calibrate In a way, I’m ’bout to be revealed all the time that I spend alone As the savior of “the deal” and out of date. And remorse? I’ve felt remorse for years And the point? Well, I’m still waiting here. It’s a single in motion, I believe all things to those who wait it’s a tidal wave Referees will be placed at the gate of a closet containing And for dreams the cost will be extreme. all the souls I save. Guests: Remaining Audience members: (Safer, Safer, Safer, Safer) In fact, in fact Gimme some fact in Gimme some fact in In fact Audience members 5 & 6: They’ll be dreams, they’ll be uneven heals Dennis Cleveland: Dead charades: they’re bound for cotton fields In a way I’m ’bout to be revealed I’ve been waiting for this: As the Savior of “the deal” a potential arcade And remorse? I’ve felt remorse for years with a salary twist And the point? Well, I’m still waiting here. and a spicy new blade I believe all things to those who wait that I run ’round my wrist Referees will be placed at the gate kind of capturing calm, And for dreams the cost will be extreme instead of diving for dollars and righting past wrongs. I could have called for back-up, back-up and leveling time. Cause a break in the tableau of American crime. Instead of crossing what lingers in the state of lip balm and saluting the mentors kind of capturing calm. Audience members 5, 6, & 7: And the line that I walk is just to calibrate All the time that I spend alone and out of date It’s a single in motion, it’s a tidal wave, of the closet containing all the souls I save. Audience member #7: It was just another brownstone until these two dentists from Queens decided to make a killing in the free-wheeling, razzle-dazzle real estate boom of the New York mid-eighties. First, they had to move out all the little old ladies who were gonna keep their $120 a month rent controlled apartments instead of having the supreme satisfaction of owning their own share in a building and paying six or seven hundred dollars in maintenance. Next in line would be those deadbeats who always pay their rent on time and never cause any trouble but could never afford to buy into a co-op. I fall into this second category. I must have been in court the entire spring and summer of 1991 trying to keep my apartment while trying to keep my girlfriend while trying to finish these demos for the manager that was finally going to get me the deal that was going to make trying to keep my apartment and girlfriend unnecessary. I kept the apartment and the two dentists lost their mortgage to the bank and now everyone in the building is sort of out there in space wondering where they’ll end up after the foreclosure. I only worry about that once a week or so. Guests: (Safer, safer, safer, safer) Dennis Cleveland: I’ve been waiting for this: a potential arcade with a salary twist and a spicy new blade that I run ’round my wrist kind of capturing calm, instead of diving for dollars and righting past wrongs. I could have called for back-up, back-up and leveling time. Cause a break in the tableau of American crime. Instead of crossing what lingers in the state of lip balm And saluting the mentors kind of capturing calm And the line that I walk is just to calibrate all the time that I spend alone and out of date. It’s a single in motion, it’s a tidal wave of the closet containing all the souls I save. Guest 3, 4 & Audience member # 8: Audience members 9, 10, & 11: They’ll be dreams, they’ll be uneven heals And the line that I walk Dead charades: they’re bound for cotton fields is just to calibrate In a way, I’m ’bout to be revealed all the time that I spend alone As the savior of “the deal” and out of date. And remorse? I’ve felt remorse for years And the point? Well, I’m still waiting here. It’s a single in motion, I believe all things to those who wait it’s a tidal wave Referees will be placed at the gate of a closet containing And for dreams the cost will be extreme. all the souls I save. Guests: Remaining Audience members: (Safer, Safer, Safer, Safer) In fact, in fact Gimme some fact in Gimme some fact in In fact

about

“DENNIS CLEVELAND is the most exciting and innovative new opera since Einstein on the Beach.”
-KYLE GANN, The Village Voice

“…the idea is an inspired one and Rouse has fashioned a stunning 90 minute musical drama out of it.”
-PETER G. DAVIS, New York Magazine

“I know of nothing that has this combination: the compositional intelligence of the best of New York’s downtown avant-garde, the musical means of a rock band and the ability to transform the sleaziest side of popular culture into near-Wagnerian exaltation.”
-MARK SWED, The Los Angeles Times

“Rouse’s music is gripping and hypnotic, alternating singing with sing-songy recitation and blending rock, classical and African elements.”
-BRUCE CULP, Toronto Globe and Mail

“Of all new music composers, only Rouse is at home enough in the world of mass media to have had the chutzpah to engineer the first operatic talk show, with singers in the audience, choreographed cameramen, and an audience watching itself on video.”
-Time Out Magazine

Dennis Cleveland is a multimedia opera that is set entirely on a television talk show in the late 20th century. It is the second opera in a Trilogy that consists of Failing Kansas, an opera based on the events surrounding the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas and inspired by the examination of those events in Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’ and The End Of Cinematics an opera that explores the nature of corporate entertainment.

The host, Dennis Cleveland, is the catalyst and provacatour of the opera, as well as the vehicle through which the story of the opera is told. The various soloists (placed in the audience) and chorus (guests that appear on stage) are linked together by the talk show host. As befits the current obsession with confessional talk shows, the content of the story evolves through the constant interaction of Dennis Cleveland and his guests. Though the guests appear to be telling their own stories, stories of lost love, obsession, crimes and regrets, what soon becomes clear is that they are telling the story of Dennis Cleveland as well.

Dennis Cleveland uses the live tape talk show format as its model while subverting the structure of this format through a series of cleverly disguised motifs. Like the various talk shows that abound worldwide, the audience and the stage become one under constant unrelenting television studio lighting. Live video of audience reactions and the inclusion of actors in the audience as well as trained singers and soloists complete a staging that offers a new way of looking at opera.

Ultimately, the narrative is derived from the libretto, which follows Dennis Cleveland through a myriad of encounters chronicling the promise of salvation through popular culture. There is an Elmer Gantry like quality to the host and his reality, particularly the late 20th century phenomenon of television ritual as a replacement of ceremony previously associated with religion. Thus, the ritual is enforced in real time as the opera progresses and it soon becomes apparent that the audience exists in Dennis Cleveland’s future: that of the ultimate voyeur, the T.V. talk show host.

-1996 Mikel Rouse

credits

released September 20, 1996

Music and Libretto 1996 Mikel Rouse
Published by Club Soda Music (ASCAP)
DENNIS CLEVELAND was premiered at The Kitchen in New York City October 29-November 2, 1996.

Dennis Cleveland is respectfully dedicated to Robert Ashley who has often noted that the future of American Opera is television.
In Memory of Ulysses Dove.

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Mikel Rouse New York, New York

Mikel Rouse is a New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist hailed as “a composer many believe to be the best of his generation.” (NY Times 2002) His works include 25 records, 7 films (including Funding and Music For Minorities), and a trilogy of media operas: Failing Kansas, Dennis Cleveland and The End Of Cinematics. ... more

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