‘Fallen Hero’ mixes opera and hip-hop, adds Othello
A montage for an earlier production of "Fallen Hero."
Thursday-Nov. 15
DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place
Tickets, $20-$25
(773) 947-0600; www.hoperaworld.com
The musical worlds of classic opera and modern hip-hop might seem like the unlikeliest of candidates for a mashup, but Chicago singer, musician and composer Adrian Dunn doesn’t think so.
“Traditional Western European opera and hip-hop aren’t that far apart,” Dunn says. “Opera can be popular again, but young people need to feel like they have a place in opera and other classical music, and both need to reflect on contemporary issues.”
His solution? Mix traditional elements of opera, like arias and grand storytelling, with rap, gospel, hip-hop and pop. To accomplish that, the classically trained Dunn founded HoperaWorld, a production company focused on exploring the fusion of the two genres. Its first major production is a contemporary take on the “Othello” story called “A Fallen Hero,” coming to the DuSable Museum of African American History for a four-day run starting Thursday.
“When I was studying Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Otello,’ I realized that he’s not that different from the modern-day black man in terms of the obstacles and challenges he faces,” Dunn says. “The professor of the class asked if it was important that he be played by a black man, and the class overwhelmingly said no. But it’s obvious to me the character offers a glimpse at the inner psyche of African-American men in the 21st century.”
It wasn’t until Dunn was studying in Finland that the idea came to him for a modern retelling of the Bard’s tale, featuring traditional and contemporary music
“There was this German beatbox guy who was like Itzhak Perlman with the way he worked his mouth. You just didn’t believe the sounds he was making,” Dunn says. “It was interesting to see how Europeans view American culture in contrast to how we see it ourselves. And I realized that is sort of what Othello is dealing with; he knows who he is and what he wants to be, but he is also aware of what others think of him and what he can achieve.”
In his modern retelling, Othello is Obadiah King, a young African American on the South Side of Chicago who dreams of a successful career as a best-selling author.
And while the piece is set in high school and deals with some of the violence that some schools are experiencing currently, Dunn says he didn’t want that to be the focal point of the piece.
“Most people who live on the South Side are obviously very aware of the violence happening there,” he says. “I didn’t want this to be just a piece about that but I had to include it, as it is at the heart of the truth of the matter.”
Above all else, it was important for Dunn and his company of 10 singers, dancers and rappers to present something relevant and truthful.
“People need to be able to see themselves inside these characters,” he says. “One problem with traditional opera is that some people feel like they will never be able to understand what’s going on because they think it doesn’t speak to them.”