What if you died, but before your life was over β in those scant moments between taking your last breath and someone discovering that you had taken the last breath β you could fulfill one last ambition?
Thatβs the premise of the jazz opera βCharlie Parkerβs Yardbird,β which Arizona Opera is bringing to the Temple of Music and Art for two performances this weekend.
THE STORY
Jazz saxophonist/composer Charlie Parker has just died and lies in purgatory in the Birdland club while the women in his tangled, drug- and alcohol-addled life, arm-wrestle over how to cope with the aftermath.
His ghost decides itβs now or never to finish one last big dream: Write his magnum opus for an orchestra of 40. As he frantically works, he is interrupted by the people in his life, including Dizzy Gillespie, showing him the good and bad of a life gone too young.
βThis piece is incredible. Itβs Charlie Parker! Iβm so excited,β said tenor Joshua Stewart, who sings the role of Parker on Saturday, Nov. 17.
Stewart said the piece explores social issues that America is now grappling with, including racism and interracial dating/marriage, which was an issue in Parkerβs lifetime in the 1920s and β30s.
This is Stewartβs third time in the lead with the chamber opera, which debuted in Philadelphia in 2015 with Lawrence Brownlee in the lead. Composer Daniel Schnyder wrote the role for Brownlee, and Stewart was his backup for the Philadelphia premiere and the followup in Chicago.
βEvery time I do it, Iβm still just as excited as the first time I was asked,β said Stewart, who lives in Spain and is making his Arizona Opera debut.
In addition to Chicago and Philadelphia, Stewart has sung the piece in Atlanta and Madison, Wisconsin.
THE STAR
Stewart grew up in New Orleans, surrounded by jazz, and as a young man considered singing jazz as a career. But his voice teachers pushed him to classical music and opera.
βI fell in love with it,β he said.
Playing Charlie Parker marries his love of opera with his love of jazz.
βBecause it is a jazzy opera, for me there are lots of opportunities to play around,β he said last week during a break in rehearsing for the Phoenix run of the production.
βThe best thing about jazz is that improvisational feeling that we can always achieve through constantly being in the moment. Youβre not thinking, βOh the last time I did this so I have to do that again.β
βItβs all in the moment. Who am I right now in this moment?β
βCharlie Parkerβs Yardbirdβ is 90 minutes long, and Stewart is on stage for all but three minutes of it.
βItβs really like a tour de force. Itβs one of those things that once you start, youβre in it,β he explained. βFor me ... itβs about connecting and making the audience feel.β
Stewart said he sometimes dives deep into the characters he portrays, but perhaps none as deeply as he does with Parker.
βFor me, it becomes my reality for that 90 minutes and sometimes the day after or the day after that day,β he said.
βThatβs the beauty, thatβs what drew me to opera, that drama that takes you over.β
THE ARIZONA PRODUCTION
βThe thing about this production that is unlike any of the others, we have a dancer in this piece. Itβs incredible. Itβs probably my favorite part of the process now is working with this dancer (DuβBois AβKeen), who kind of embodies Charlie Parkerβs music physically on the stage,β Stewart said. βHe really brings a whole new flavor to this piece that it desperately needed. Itβs remarkable what one person can do to change the entire dynamic. I canβt speak highly enough of his work. It inspires me to sing better.β
βCharlie Parkerβs Yardbirdβ closes out Arizona Operaβs inaugural McDougall Arizona Opera Red Series of more contemporary, chamber operas.
βLa Traviataβ opens the Main Stage series of more traditional operas on Feb. 2 and 3 at Tucson Music Hall.
