DOCTOR ATOMIC (Adams) Met New York 2008 Gerald Finley, Sasha Cooke, Eric Owens

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO PERFORMANCE ON PBS

DOCTOR ATOMIC by John Adams
Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, New York
2008

CAST

J. Robert Oppenheimer: Gerald Finley
Kitty Oppenheimer: Sasha Cooke
Edward Teller: Richard Paul Fink
General Leslie Groves: Eric Owens
Robert Wilson: Thomas Glenn
Pasqualita: Meredith Arwady
__________________________________

Conductor: Alan Gilbert
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
__________________________________

Director: Penny Woolcock
Stage Designer: Julian Crouch
Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber
Lighting Designer: Brian McDevitt
==================================

Doctor Atomic is an opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with a libretto by Peter Sellars. It premiered at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. The work focuses on how leading figures at Los Alamos dealt with the great stress and anxiety of preparing for the test of the first atomic bomb (the “Trinity” test).

In 2007, a documentary was made by Jon H. Else about the creation of the opera and collaboration between Adams and Sellars, titled Wonders Are Many.

Sellars adapted much of the text for the opera from declassified U.S. government documents and communications among the scientists, government officials, and military personnel who were involved in the project. He also included poetry by Charles Baudelaire and Muriel Rukeyser, the Holy Sonnets of John Donne, quotes from the Bhagavad Gita, and a traditional Tewa native song.

Quoted from Wikipedia

The Story

ACT I: Los Alamos Laboratory, New Mexico. June 1945.
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and Project Commander General Leslie Groves are in charge of the Manhattan Project, the monumental, top-secret venture to develop the first atomic bomb. Convinced that an atomic weapon will be decisive in winning World War II, and desperate to create this monstrous new weapon before Germany can beat them to it, the United States has spent years pouring money, manpower, natural resources, and scientific and industrial expertise into the project—including at the remote Los Alamos Laboratory in the New Mexico desert. But recent events have some scientists questioning the wisdom of continuing their work. Germany surrendered to the Allied forces in May, and a number of scientists and politicians have suggested that Japan can be induced to surrender even without the United States dropping a nuclear bomb. Some scientists are also worried about the moral and social implications of the bomb, which promises a kind of instantaneous destruction previously unimaginable in the history of humankind. Two young physicists, Edward Teller and Robert Wilson, circulate a petition asking President Truman not to deploy the weapon. Oppenheimer, however, tells Teller and Wilson to stop undermining the project: He has just returned from Washington, and he knows that Truman has already decided to bomb Japan.

The Oppenheimers’ house in Los Alamos.
The physicists at Los Alamos are not the only ones concerned about what this bomb—and its impending test—might mean for the future. At home, Oppenheimer speaks with his wife, Kitty, about her fears. Through the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and Muriel Rukeyser, they speak of fear and war, but they also speak about their love for each other. When Oppenheimer leaves, Kitty thinks about the contradictions that are now part of her life: war and peace, destruction and love.

The Trinity test site. July 15, 1945.
It is the night before the first atomic bomb test, and a massive, unexpected electrical storm is lashing the test site. The bomb, partially armed and hoisted on a high tower, is in danger of being struck by lightning. General Groves, the military commander overseeing the bomb test, is desperate for the detonation to happen on schedule, but he faces pushback from the scientists around him. Frank Hubbard, the chief meteorologist at the site, warns that attempting the test during a thunderstorm is extremely dangerous. Captain Nolan, of the Army Medical Corps, tries to impress upon Groves the toxic properties of radioactive fallout, which are only just beginning to be understood. As panic starts to take hold, the general dismisses all staff in order to confer with Oppenheimer alone.

Rather than focusing on the science of the upcoming test, though, Oppenheimer and Groves share a friendly moment, and Oppenheimer listens as Groves describes his current diet. Finally, Groves leaves to get some sleep. Left alone, Oppenheimer thinks about the terrifying weapon he has helped create and wonders what the atomic bomb will mean for humanity: Will it lead to peace? Or will it lead to utter destruction?

ACT II: The Oppenheimers’ house.
Two hundred miles from the test site, Kitty and Pasqualita watch the night sky for signs of the explosion. Like her husband, Kitty wonders if this bomb will bring peace or devastation to humanity. Rain begins to fall. Katherine, the Oppenheimers’ baby, wakes up and begins to cry. Pasqualita comforts her, singing a Tewa lullaby about the “cloud flower” that blossoms in the North.

The test site. Midnight.
The test area has been prepared for the explosion. Robert Wilson and Frank Hubbard are at the bomb tower taking last-minute measurements, but both are extremely worried about working on the bomb in the middle of an electrical storm. At the observation bunker, the scientists discuss the possibility that the detonation might set off an uncontrolled chain reaction ending in the destruction of the earth. Oppenheimer assures them that such a result is not possible. With the rain still coming down, Groves decides to take a chance on the storm’s passing, and Oppenheimer orders everybody to prepare for the test shot at 5:30AM. Now there is nothing for Groves and Oppenheimer to do but wait, and each is absorbed by his own terrified thoughts. Groves is plagued by fears of sabotage. Oppenheimer again wonders what the bomb will mean for the future.

The physicists, meanwhile, have been making bets on how powerful the bomb’s explosion will be. Oppenheimer surprises everyone by guessing that the explosion will be much smaller than predicted. Yet Oppenheimer is far from calm: As he waits for the explosion, terrifying lines from the Bhagavad Gita run through his mind.

The hour of the detonation approaches. At “zero minus ten minutes” (ten minutes before the blast), a warning rocket is fired and a siren sounds. The storm breaks, and the sky suddenly clears. A second warning rocket goes off. A third rocket, at “zero minus sixty seconds,” signals the final countdown. To protect themselves from the explosion, the scientists and army personnel lie face down in a series of shallow ditches; the ground looks like it is strewn with dead bodies. There is no movement or whisper of activity, only the rhythmic countdown over the loudspeaker. At “zero minus 45 seconds,” an engineer flips the switch for the automatic timer. The triggering circuits begin to fire. “Zero minus one.” There is an eerie silence.

Quoted from Metropolitan Opera