ANOTHER CITY
an opera about homelessness in Houston
and every city
music by Jeremy Howard Beck
libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann
commissioned by Houston Grand Opera
premiere: Houston, March 9-11, 2023
“A powerful tale of Houston’s homeless.”
featured in
The New York Times Headway cover story
Drawn from in-depth interviews and conversations, this moving exploration of homelessness in Houston centers on the collective voices of a city in search of the meaning of home. A kaleidoscopic, immersive web of intersecting stories—of those experiencing homelessness, and those who work to help however they can—ANOTHER CITY chronicles housing lost, gained, and carried as memory. The opera asks: How do we bridge the chasm between this city and its other, a place that is all around us but invisible, hiding in plain sight?
80 minutes
vocal ensemble: 12
orchestra: 7
score, libretto and archival video available on request
CREATORS’ STATEMENT
When we set out to speak with folks experiencing homelessness in Houston and those working to help the unhoused, we were overwhelmed by the generosity with which people opened up their spaces of refuge, and their hearts, to us. We were deeply moved by the eloquence, the music of their voices. Their stories—rich and varied, running the gamut of failures and triumphs, pain and joy—form the fabric of this opera.
Diving deeper into our research, we discovered that any city grappling with homelessness is actually two cities coexisting, like parallel universes, one laid atop the other. How its inhabitants cross over from one city to the next—to be of service, or to attempt to shift the paradigm, or to meet a family member where they are—is not just about the act of seeing, or not seeing. It is the rare person who has the tools and resourcefulness to straddle the divide. The Navigator in ANOTHER CITY, named for an actual job title, has this ability. Like all others in this line of work, he must combine the skill of a social worker with an intimate knowledge of, and the ability to move fluidly between, the city’s hidden, forgotten places. It is our hope that the experience of this opera can, in some small way, help its audiences traverse that space between their own two cities, and, in so doing, start to build another, more harmonious city, wherever they are.
For, as we wrote, we began to understand that Houston, in all its vibrant idiosyncrasy, could be any city. The problems plaguing that metropolis are universal. The city in this opera could be yours.
“Been living out here, for nine long months.
But now it’s time, the navigator says.
He’s found me a home.
All I have to do is show.”
“HGO’s ANOTHER CITY SENSITIVELY EXPLORES THE PLIGHT OF THE homeless….
Another City plays down typical operatic trappings…Fleischmann’s libretto sidesteps traditional operatic poesy, instead letting the characters interact and tell their stories in natural conversational terms. Beck…has a knack for crafting vocal lines that amplify the text’s conversational clarity and flow… [He] marshals the instrumental ensemble…to generate evocative sonorities.”