Playing off Broadway this summer! The Tin Angel Opera, written to a libretto by Paul Pines and based on his widely acclaimed novel of the same name, with music by award-winning composer Daniel Asia, is set in the edgy world of a NYC downtown Bowery jazz club, where a unique cast of characters play out their dramatic story as a call for redemption. The inspiration behind the story is The Tin Palace, the real-life New York City’s jazz mecca of the 70s, founded by Paul Pines in 1973. The opera is conducted by Enrico Fagone, directed by Chloe Treat, produced by Teatro Grattacielo, and will play at La Mama’s Ellen Stewart Theatre. John Gentry Tennyson re-orchestrated the show for the smaller ensemble that will be used in this performance, and I was the music copyist for both this version and the large orchestra version.
The Tin Angel Opera to play in New York.
Before it was an opera, it was a scene. In the 1970s, the Bowery wasn’t polished. It was powerful. It was a place where poets drank with punks, jazz echoed from basement clubs, and legends passed through smoke-filled doorways. Just one block from La MaMa, the original Tin Palace became a beating heart of this downtown creative chaos, hosting jazz giants, underground artists, and dreamers of a new American sound. This is where The Tin Angel begins.