Welfare

American Opera Projects presents a world premiere opera for singers, instrumentalists, and live video.

Based on Frederick Wiseman’s legendary 1975 documentary, Welfare takes us into the emotionally charged atmosphere of a New York City welfare office. Each of the opera’s eclectic musical numbers combines passages of authentic, unscripted dialogue from the film with distilled, poetic refrains.

Directed by Mr. Wiseman, this evocative production will feature projected live video of the singers mixed with footage from the original film.

The highly energized score by Lenny Pickett, Music Director of Saturday Night Live, uses seven singers to portray the eighteen characters, each so incredibly unique that they could only be drawn from real life.