Composer Derrick Wang had studied music at Harvard and Yale when he enrolled in law school and began work on a surprising opera – Scalia/Ginsburg. The two supreme court justices had very different opinions on the bench, but they were personal friends with a mutual love of opera.
In 2015, his work premiered at Virginia’s Castleton Festival – an hour long comedy that delights opera fans everywhere.
"If you come and you are an opera goer or you’ve heard some opera in your life, there are melodies you will recognize, which is a lot of fun."
Claire Choquette is stage director for the production by Charlottesville Opera, featuring soprano Karli Forte as Ginsburg, tenor Carlos Ahrens as Scalia and baritone Adam Rodgers.
"The third character is called the commentator, this all-powerful figure who has come to judge Antonin Scalia, because of his excessive dissent."
The production explores a relationship that began when Scalia and Ginsburg served on the D.C. Circuit Court, and despite their near constant disagreement on cases, their friendship persisted for decades.
"They had great respect for their position and for the system of which they are a part. They believed that the fact that they disagree is actually the strength of the system," Choquette explains.
As you might expect, the libretto is filled with legal references that will tickle attorneys in the crowd, and there are lots of jokes for everyone, a fact that delights Choquette.
"Politics is a difficult subject to talk about sometimes, and I appreciate that it’s presented with such levity."
But, she notes, staging a comic opera is harder than you might think. In stand-up, performers can pause for as long as necessary – allowing the audience to enjoy a humorous moment – but in opera the music goes on.
"For a joke to land, it has to be tight, right? And in some ways that is not quite as simple as staging what would be a melodramatic opera."
Fortunately, the dialogue will be projected above the stage, allowing viewers to follow the clever script in all its legal detail.
"And this one is particularly wordy with all the – as Antonin Scalia said once — ‘Legalistic argle bargle.’”
When it’s all over – in the spirit of Scalia and Ginsburg – their friends will sit down for a peaceful discussion of the opera and the legacy of these two controversial but amicable judges.
"Both justices have family ties here and some clerks who worked with them, who knew them who will be on a discussion panel following the show."
Charlottesville Opera will present two performances – Friday, March 28th at 7 and Saturday, March 29th at 2.
