The American Dream Songbook

One of Leonard Bernstein’s little-heard operas, the vibrant satire Trouble in Tahiti receives an intimate and immediate staging, followed by the world premieres of five new songs on the topic of the American Dream by some of the country’s leading contemporary composers. Bernstein’s simple libretto about Sam and Dinah’s marriage on the rocks is laced with insightful and poignant commentary about of the very backbone of the “American Dream” of the 1950’s. “Happily married, sweet little son… up-to-date kitchen, washing machine, colorful bathrooms and Life Magazine, and a little white house in Brookline — Suburbia!” Juxtaposing the couple’s struggle to reconnect with the overwhelmingly pleasant comforts of suburban life, Bernstein asks whether we will ever be satisfied by a dream built only by the signs of middle-class success.