Little Rock, Ark.
• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

With a colorful, conflicted story, former President Bill Clinton’s life seems ready-made as an opera.

“Billy Blythe,” an opera about a day in the life of a teenage Bill Clinton, recently debuted in Arkansas. The story highlights Mr. Clinton’s family life as he struggles with an abusive stepfather and his flamboyant, unconventional, and beloved mother, Virginia Kelley. The title comes from the name the former president used until he turned 14, when he legally took his stepfather’s surname.

The opera’s creator, Bonnie Montgomery, spent four years composing the music and storyline along with its librettist, Britt Barber. Ms. Montgomery, who grew up in Arkansas while Clinton was governor, was inspired by Clinton’s 2006 autobiography, “My Life.”

“There were rich passages in the book about Clinton getting up in the morning and spending time with Virginia when she was putting on her makeup that inspired me,” Montgomery says. “I wondered how his early life as a teenager shaped him into the man he would later become and who would be president.”

The debut featured four scenes, including one where Clinton confronts his stepfather in order to protect his mother. Montgomery is currently looking for venues to workshop the entire opera.

And yes, Clinton knows about the project. Last year, Montgomery ran into the former president when he visited Arkansas and told him about it.

“He wished me good luck,” she says.

The opera is set in Hot Springs, where Bill Clinton grew up, on a single day in 1959
By Jon Swaine, New York 9:00PM GMT 05 Dec 2010
So it is appropriate that his story should make it on to the stage.
An opera about him is being performed in the state where in 1946 he was born, as he once said, “in a place called Hope”.
Yet ‘Billy Blythe’ eschews the melodramatic tumult of the late 1990s, when Mr Clinton faced public and political humiliation over his affair with Monica Lewinksy, a White House intern.

It is set in Hot Springs, where he grew up, on a single day in 1959, the last year he used the surname of his late father, William Blythe, before taking that of his stepfather, Roger Clinton.
The opera features music composed by Bonnie Montgomery and a libretto by Brittany Barber, both 31-year-old Arkansas natives. It recently premiered at Little Rock’s Women’s City Club, in front of a 60-strong audience, to warm reviews.
They told The Daily Telegraph they had been inspired by chapter six of My Life, Mr Clinton’s memoir, in which his vivid description of his mother, Virginia, “jumped off the page”.
“She was a really vibrant lady, who would smoke cigarettes and drink coffee while applying her make-up at her vanity mirror,” said Miss Montgomery.
The plot turns on a storytelling contest between Billy and his grandfather, in which it becomes clear that he is no George Washington when it comes to telling the truth.
“He says he saw two boys bust open a prize watermelon and scrape out its fruit,” said Miss Barber. “Really there were three boys, and one was him.
“From then he suffers an internal struggle. He got carried away and wrestles with the truth. Eventually he lifts his head and decides not to let a mistake consume his life forever,” she said.
While insisting it was no “direct reference” to later indiscretions, Miss Barber said: “More recently he also seemed to make a conscious decision not to be defined by an error or internal struggle.”
The pair are developing the opera from its current four scenes into seven, and say they are seeking opportunities for it to be performed elsewhere in the US after its local run.
“We wanted to do something for the state,” said Miss Montgomery, “Bill Clinton’s done a lot of positive things for it, too.”

NO OTHER speaker, not even Barack Obama himself, was in as much demand as Bill Clinton on the Democratic campaign trail for this year’s mid-terms, a testament to the affection in which the 42nd president is still held. Mr Clinton, having inspired a novel, a film in which he was played by John Travolta and countless political tracts, is now the subject of an opera that opened on November 19th in Little Rock, where he lived while he was Arkansas’s governor.

“Billy Blythe”—the brainchild of two Arkansas natives, Bonnie Montgomery and Britt Barber—is set on a single day in the Southern life of a teenaged Clinton in the Arkansas town of Hot Springs, where he grew up. It highlights the tribulations that shaped the future occupant of the White House, living with an abusive and alcoholic stepfather and a decidedly colourful mother.

Ms Montgomery, the composer, and Ms Barber, the opera’s librettist who now lives in Atlanta, spent four years on the work. Ms Montgomery, a classically trained musician who also fronts a country-and-western band, was inspired to write the opera after reading Mr Clinton’s autobiography. She was especially stirred, she says, by a passage in which Mr Clinton wrote about watching his mother, Virginia, apply her make-up for a night out while smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.

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The creators have turned the former president’s life into something more familiar to a fan of Tennessee Williams than of “The West Wing”. The opera gets its title from Mr Clinton’s birth surname, which he went by until taking his stepfather’s name as a teenager. Scenes include a steamy rendezvous between Clinton’s stepfather Roger Clinton and Virginia, she wearing lingerie while singing about their torrid romance. Virginia also sings an aria with the young Clinton about his father, William Blythe, who died before Mr Clinton was born. The opera features a tableau following big wins at the horse races and a night of domestic drama, complete with gunfire, in the Clinton household. What need, with all that going on, for interns?

Ms Montgomery says she wants to make opera less stodgy and more accessible to a generation of people who may have never attended one before. She chose an old ballroom in downtown Little Rock for the premiere rather than a formal auditorium. An after-party in a local pub, the White Water Tavern, included a racier, more relaxed second performance. Less-lavish opera performed in pubs to a younger crowd is already big in London, thanks to groups like OperaUpClose. And why not? The first performance of an English opera was given in a room at the Smithfield home of Sir William Davenant in 1656.

“Billy Blythe” represents an “opportunity to bring opera back to the people,” director Jeremy Franklin told a near-capacity crowd at its premiere Friday night at the Women’s City Club. The production, Franklin reminded the audience, is “by, for and about Arkansans” — by natives Bonnie Montgomery and Brit Barber, composer and librettist, respectively; for Arkansans but also, implicitly, regular folks who don’t know Verdi from verismo and about the man who, more than anyone else, has come to represent what Arkansas means to the world abroad, Bill Clinton.

Of course, as the title suggests, “Billy Blythe” is not a familiar Bill Clinton story. Rather, Montgomery and Barber look to Clinton’s childhood, specifically to 1959, the last year kept his birth surname Blythe.
But those on Friday hoping for a story that captures that pivotal time in the future president’s life only got a tease. Because that’s all the performance was — not a true premiere, but rather a costumed workshop production of four scenes, only about half of the full opera.

Still, one got the gist. And it was promising. Montgomery successfully managed to weave ragtime and folk traditions into opera structure. Her rollicking opening instrumental theme, which she played on the keyboard herself (Giovanni Antipolo otherwise provided the accompaniment), especially evoked the era.

And while the scenes staged Friday were sometimes hard to follow — they were mostly non-consecutive — Barber’s libretto teased drama out of a day in the life of the Blythe/Clinton household: In the opening scene, she finds passion amidst Virginia (Kelly Ponder) and Roger Clinton (Evan Jones) sleepily recalling their idyllic life in New Orleans. In the closing scene, the couple reunite rambunctiously, while young Billy (Christopher McKim) works up the courage to stand up to his drunken stepfather.

But the night’s most resonant piece focused on the relationship of the opera’s central characters, Billy and his mother. It begins a touch purple, with Virginia complimenting her son on the coffee he’s made for her. “Thick and syrupy — oh, how this coffee oozes of your father’s zest of life,” Ponder sings, before she and McKim launch into a beautifully elegiac duet about William Jefferson Blythe, who died in a car crash before his son was born.

The cast for the workshop was roundly excellent. McKim managed a Bubba accent without laying it on too thick. Jones conveyed Roger Clinton Sr.’s combustible nature with gusto. And mezzo-soprano Ponder soared as Virginia Clinton; her second scene aria was a showstopper.

The crowd agreed, rewarding cast and crew with an enthusiastic standing ovation. Later, at the late night after party at White Water Tavern, another crowd intently watched an encore performance with Montgomery, a mezzo-soprano herself, thrillingly taking on the Virginia Clinton role. Like at the earlier showing, the crowd stayed quiet throughout the performance. At midnight at White Water Tavern, that may’ve been a first.

Don’t miss our showcase of 4 scenes from Billy Blythe on November 19th at the Women’s City Club in downtown Little Rock, 8pm. This will be a performance with an all-star cast and the first time that Billy Blythe has been seen or heard! Get tickets here or at the door.

They held auditions yesterday in Little Rock, Arkansas for roles in the upcoming world premiere opera “Billy Blythe” about young Bill Clinton in his native land. Good thing they’ve already announced the title of the new work because most of the suggestions I’ve heard have been (how shall I put this?) below the belt. We’ll keep an eye on developments.

Suzanne Calvin, Manager/Director Media & PR

Bonnie Montgomery’s Billy Blythe focuses on childhood of President Clinton.
By Spencer Watson
LITTLE ROCK — If the word “opera” only calls to mind fat ladies belting out foreign words in high-pitched notes while stuffy rich people in fine attire watch through funny glasses, most likely in Europe, then the next couple months may change your mind.

Circle the date Nov. 19. It’s a Friday. It will be the public’s first chance to see staging of scenes from Billy Blythe, an opera about the early life of former President Bill Clinton. That’s right, an opera. About Bill Clinton.

The production is a collaboration between Arkansas native and Little Rock resident Bonnie Montgomery, and former college classmate Britt Barber, who now lives in Atlanta. It’s a one-act short work about a day in the life of teenage Clinton, who then went by Blythe, the surname of his biological father, who died before he was born. The story is based on real events recounted in Clinton’s 2004 autobiography My Life and that of his mother Virginia Clinton Kelley in her book, Leading With My Heart.

“There’s a scene in [My Life] where he goes into detail about watching his mother put on makeup” as a child, said Montgomery. “When I read it, in my mind’s eye I could just see it on the operatic stage. … I’ve gotten a few operatic ideas in my life, but this is the first one I really went with.”

And thus began what would become a four-year project, with music composed by Montgomery, a formally trained vocalist with degrees in music education and performance, and the words — or libretto, in opera lingo — written by Barber, a poet.

While “every bit of what happens in the opera is based on Clinton’s life,” the work condenses several events in his childhood into a single day and presents a story that is, at its core, a portrait of Arkansas, a piece of its culture and a tale that influenced an ordinary kid who grew up to be a global household name.

“It’s not about any scandal,” said Montgomery. “It’s about his youth … an uplifting story about a universal character, the average man having a dream.”

And no, it’s not in Italian. It’s in English. And it’s very Arkansan, said Montgomery, who described the music drawing from a rich Arkansas tradition, with ragtime and jazz, “with a lot of swing to it.”

Though able to be orchestrated for a variety of instruments, the music was written for voice and piano — not always an easy task when Billy’s part is baritone and all Montgomery could do to mull it over was sing to herself. Also, living in Nashville, Tenn., before moving back to Arkansas last year, she didn’t always have the room for a piano in her apartment.

But, believe it or not, when things looked grim for the project — a part-time thing at best, since it was gigs, lessons and odd jobs that paid the bills — Montgomery said she got her inspiration from the works of Clinton and his mother, whom she said is as much a protagonist in her opera as the title character is.

And while looking forward to two months is both “exciting and terrifying” as parts of the work are shared publicly both though the Nov. 19 workshop performance and an airing of an aria on AETN Presents: On the Front Row, Montgomery acknowledges that opera may be a hard sell.

“With [a reputation for being in a foreign language] and having to sit so long your ass gets uncomfortable and the stodginess and getting all dressed up, I realize it’s got a pretty bad stack against it,” she said.

But it is with words like “sexy” and “relevant” and “hip” that she talks about what she deems to be “the grandest and highest art form to express yourself with.” She envisions everything from small venue rural shows, to young, contemporary opera groups performing the piece (there are discussion with groups in New York and Chicago). The idea, in part, is to open up opera to audiences that might not give it a second thought — as she, herself, wouldn’t have as a kid.

“Living in Searcy, I really didn’t know what opera was until I was about 11,” she said. “I just knew I wanted to be a musician.”

In that same nontraditional vein, she’s even thought about trying to premier Billy at Little Rock’s own White Water Tavern, a plan that isn’t entirely abandoned yet.

“With the feel of White Water … I just had this vision of seeing it on stage there, and I can’t believe it probably could come to fruition,” Montgomery said. “Who else has ever written an opera and debuted it at a dive bar by the railroad tracks?”

Of course, “if it’s picked by someone else and a huge orchestra is ready to go, hell yes I’ll orchestrate it,” she said. “If the Metropolitan Opera wants it, we’ll definitely accommodate.”

For the time being, though, the November staging, which Montgomery said will feature “world-class talent,” is set for the Women’s City Club in downtown Little Rock on Scott Street. It will be at 8 p.m. and open to the public, but information on ticket pricing and sales is still in the works.

No word on Clinton’s attendance, but Montgomery did say the former president is aware of the project. Indeed, she told him about it herself. While in Little Rock shortly before moving here last year, she happened to see him walking around downtown. He veered into the Capital Hotel, and after a few deep breaths, she followed.

“He was just standing there in the lobby, so I went up to him and told him all about it. I said it all really fast, but he listened and asked a few questions. I said I just wanted to have his support for the project,” Montgomery recalled. “My one big regret is I didn’t ask him if I could buy him a drink.”

Maybe after the show.

Bill Clinton, The Opera?

WTF?! Ha!

We’re actually sort of intrigued with the idea of this mess!

President Bill Clinton’s life story is apparently being adapted into an OPERA called Billy Blythe, which is being described as “a coming of age story set in the late 1950’s in Hot Springs” that “will explain how the natural state helped shape and mold the man we now know as President Bill Clinton.”

The title comes from Clinton’s birth name, William Jefferson Blythe III, and instead of focusing on all of the fun and scandalous shiz that went down during his years in office, it will instead be centered around “a pivotal moment in Billy Blythe’s coming of age because he has to stand up to his step-father, Roger Clinton, in a life-changing domestic conflict.”

Lame! We want Sarah Brightman as Monica Lewinsky!

LOLs! If you’re going to go bizarre enough to write an opera about Bill Clinton, you might as well go all the way!

Thoughts??

Read More: Bill Clinton, The Opera? | PerezHilton.com http://perezhilton.com/2010-09-20-bill_clintons_life_being_adapted_into_opera#ixzz12poCjLF2
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