Performances + Events
Among the takeaways from John Musto’s Later the Same Evening that NEC Opera Studies Chair Joshua Major appreciates is “the idea that we all connect when we’re in a room together experiencing something.” In Musto’s chamber opera, the libretto for which was written by Mark Campbell, figures from paintings by Edward Hopper are embodied in characters whose lives, Major explained, “intersect in the theater” on one night in New York City in 1932.
Later the Same Evening, which will be staged this week as part of the NEC Festival, is a “beautiful opera about these gentle stories that interact in a very sort of private and intimate way,” Major said. The work, which in 2018 was the first production to be staged in NEC’s Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre, takes as its inspiration five of Hopper’s paintings — Room in New York, Hotel Window, Hotel Room, Two on the Aisle, and Automat. The imagined stories that unfold on the stage speak to the possibilities of imagination and what an audience can make of an experience. “This is Mark Campbell’s genius,” Major said.
What Musto brought to the piece, Major said, “is a very American and rich musical vocabulary that supports storytelling and character development.” The New York Times said Musto’s score “combines elements of the Copland/Bernstein style with snatches of popular songs and urban razzle-dazzle.” And Musical America said Musto’s “accessible but sophisticated style has many roots in American musical theater.” The score for this production will be performed by the NEC Philharmonia, conducted by Graduate Opera Studies Music Director Robert Tweten.
“It’s musically challenging” for the singers, Major said, explaining that he chose the piece based on the voices of the students in the Graduate Opera Studies program.
“I think the greatest challenge of this contemporary opera lies in its musical setting and writing style, which are unlike any of the operas I have performed before,” soprano Dani Zhang ’26 AD said, adding, “As a non-native speaker, I need to put in the effort to understand the rhymes while singing this English opera.” Zhang and soprano Melissa Pereyra ’25 MM will perform the role of Ruth on alternating nights. The character is one that Campbell and Musto created from the figure in Hopper’s 1931 painting Hotel Room.
Pereyra said “connecting the text to have meaning in a difficult part of my range” has been technically demanding.
Connecting to Hopper’s paintings has helped Pereyra and Zhang each develop the character. “Hopper’s paintings weren’t the first things I looked at when I started to learn the role,” Pereyra said, “so when we got to staging and I got a better look at (Hotel Room), I really could see her in a new light. I got to see her as the woman coming to terms with a difficult decision.” In the opera, Ruth is a failed dancer who arrives at a crossroads. “Something I hope I bring out in Ruth is a clever, witty free-spirited ballerina who, like everyone else, is human.”
“Staging this with Joshua Major has been such a transformative experience for me,” Pereyra said. “I’m pretty proud of the work we’re doing here and am very excited to show others what we’ve put together.”
In serving the artistic interests of the students, the production also serves its audience, placing each performance-goer in a world that began on a canvas nearly a century ago, and asking each to engage their imagination. While Hopper made his primary residence in New York, he spent many summers in Massachusetts — in Gloucester and in Truro, on Cape Cod. These details, while not referenced in the work, can help inform our understanding of the artist and the way he saw the world. The characters that Campbell and Musto created from Hopper’s painted figures — the imagined lives that the singers develop and explore through Later the Same Evening — help us understand our own.
Follow the links below to learn more about and reserve tickets to a performance of Later the Same Evening in the Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre. Admission is free for NEC students, who can get their ticket from the Box Office Tuesday-Thursday, 12-3 p.m., or one hour before the performance begins.
Thursday, November 14, at 6:00 p.m. *
Friday, November 15, at 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 16, at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 17, at 3:00 p.m.
*Thursday’s performance will be followed by a talkback with composer John Musto, conductor Robert Tweten, several singers from the production, and stage director Joshua Major, who will moderate the conversation.
This production is part of the 2024 NEC Festival, which features performances, workshops, and more and takes place November 10-17. Explore all of the festival’s events here.
