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DR. ATOMIC
review by Ed Vincent

Doctor Atomic is a contemporary opera with music by John Adams, and  libretto by Peter Sellars.  I had seen some work by Adams before when he produced Nixon in China (1987) performed in Chicago in 2006 (review).

The music that John Adams creates is often reminiscent of work by Philip Glass, and this reduced work is a far mark from works by Puccini or Verdi, though he does have a past master he reminds me of from time to time and that would be Wagner, but only concerns itself with the length and sometimes the weight of the topic.  This production from the Metropolitan Opera is as good as it can get, with lavish and formidable sets and staging.

The depth of the subject matter is perhaps a bit much, the length too, a concern for the audience.  The dismal conclusion gives no light to the millions of lives that were saved by use of the bomb, and that is millions of Japanese as well as allied troops.

The opera covers some philosophical land minds and uses for the lyrics works from a varied group of writers and personal journals of the scientists.




I prefer the works of Andrew Lloyd Weber to those of Adams, but the ideal might be an amalgam of the two, prettier tunes with a more social import. 

The first nuclear explosion at Los Alamos New Mexico in 1945
is highlighted, the debates, weather, and history. The theatrics are grand and the Met's delivery phenomenal.








Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma, Book from Amazon and Kindle


Doctor Atomic Video


Doctor Atomic, commentary and history of the events



































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