Music by Daniel Schnyder
Libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly

Indianapolis Opera
Madame Walker Legacy Center
Indianapolis, IN
March 2024

Director: Jessica Burton
Conductor: Clinton Smith
Lighting Designer: Catherine Sipe
Projections Designer: Jessica Burton
Photos: Denis Ryan Kelly, Jr./Indianapolis Opera

Swipe of the title “Birdland” at the top of the opera:

 

Charlie goes crazy and he cannot hear music in his head, this is depicted by a music staff that is just noise.  As his mind starts to quiet, so does the noise and he is able to have a staff where he can start to write music again:

 

Charlie tries to hear music, but it is all jumbled up.  As the music starts to dance in his head he begs it to stand still.  When it finally stops, it has come to nothing, and he throws his pen across the stage.  Later the music comes back and starts one of his most famous songs: “Ornithology”:

 

Charlie finally says goodbye to the world and lays down to his final rest.  As his spirit leaves the theatre, birds fly away: