THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
Opera in Two Acts
Libretto by Colin Graham, based on the novel by James M. Cain
Duration: 120 minutes
Excerpted Arias from THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
Southern California in the 1930's; a steamy tale of sex, violence, and betrayal. Set in a
roadside tavern during the Great Depression, it is the story of a passionate affair between a
handsome drifter and the tavern owner's unhappy wife, who plot to murder her husband.
Cain called it "a love story," but with lovers who "wake up to discover that once they've
pulled the thing off, no two people can share this terrible secret and live on the same earth;
they turn against each other."
Cast of Characters:
Frank Chambers, unemployed, Baritone
Nick Papadakis, owner of The Twin Oaks Tavern, Tenor
Cora, his wife, Soprano
Sackett, District Attorney, Bass
Katz, a lawyer, Tenor
Kennedy, Katz's sidekick, Actor
First Cop (Motorcycle), Baritone
Second Cop (Jail)
Instrumentation:
Orchestra: 2(2.pic)-1-1-al sax-1; 1-2-1-1(b tbn); gtr, hp, pf; perc(2) (incl. 2 timp); str 6-6-4-
3-2
Librettist's Notes:
Yes, Frank and Cora are doomed. They are not immoral, they are amoral. Like Wedekind's
Lulu before her, Cora reaches out instinctively at the moment she feels she is trapped; for
Nick Papadakis when she needs to escape from the Hollywood hashhouse and "the tips on the
dresser and how about another little party tonight?" and for Frank ("hard and clean") when
she needs to escape from Nick ("soft and greasy") and her cage at Twin Oaks. It is not until
her rude awakening at the corrupt hands of the law that she begins to assess life with any
understanding: from that moment on she grows into a woman whose thoughts and passions
stem from awareness and not from mere impulse.
When Frank meets Cora and comes under her spell he, too, is unawakened, even
unintelligent, and--like so many young people in any era--he has been drifting for some time.
In the novel it is Frank who tells of his own story, but he tells it from the perspective of the
death house., when he is able to see the ironies of life with a deepened perception. His love
and need for Cora become his prison, and the two of them are seen as innocents who have
confused the powers of sexuality and love, need and greed.
...the idiom of opera, with its heightened elision of music and words, allows the characters to
flower. Certainly The Postman is no piece of melodramatic offal; it is the tragedy of two
people who have no knowledge of good or evil, and only become aware of their true natures
when they are on the way down--and it is too late to avoid the Postman's second ring.
Composer's Notes:
In setting The Postman Always Rings Twice, I was motivated by two main features of the
story--the dramatic, driving tension which runs throughout, and the underlying tenderness
which evolves as the two main characters develop. The first element, the dramatic one,
seemed to suggest thtat someting could go wrong at any moment. It gave a reason for
violent or lustful behavior on the part of Frank and Cora and provided me with plenty of room
for musical creativity. Sudden volume changes, clusters, or outbursts of sound, free-ranging
figures that travel up and down the register--all have been used to enhance this feature....
The second feature, the underlying tenderness, allowed me to exploit a lyrical quality which
makes tentative appearances in Act One and becomes much more full-blown in Act Two. It
is through these lyrical moments that I have attempted to create an empathy for these trapped
characters and their situation.
A guitar and a saxophone have been added to the usual complement of players in an attempt
to dovetail a hint of the time period with my own compositional style. The musical themes of
the work have been used in a variety of ways which develop along with the characters. For
instance, the rather violent music which accompanies Frank and Cora's first love encounter
the Act One later becomes the tender theme of their Mountain Duet in Act Two.
Synopsis:
Act One happens in and around the Twin Oaks Tavern, a roadside
sandwich joint like a million others in California.
The last scene happens on the road to Santa Barbara. It is 1934.
1. Prologue
2. Frank arrives at Twin Oaks Tavern. Traveling Blues.
3. Frank gets acquainted with Nick and Cora; he gets a meal and a job. Nick's song.
4. Frank and Cora make it and get the chips off their shoulders.
Twin themes: The hashhouse and the road.
5. Interlude: "Her eyes were shining up at me like two blue stars: it was like being in church."
6. Black Comedy: the foiled murder.
7. Cora won't leave; Frank does.
8. Frank's Road Song. But he can't stay away.
9. The prodigal returns. Confrontation: the red kimono.
10. The murder and the echo. Nick gets his; Frank goes over the cliff with Nick and the car.
Act Two happens at the District Attorney's office,
the County Jail, then back at Twin Oaks Tavern.
11. Frank in the hospital with broken bones; the District Attorney is
determined to get him, or Cora, or both.
12. Cora and Frank flimflammed by Sackett and Katz.
Cats are unlucky for Frank--and Sackett and Katz are aural anagrams of each other.
13. The insurance companies take the cheaper way out, and Cora and Frank are off the hook.
Katz's aria; he wins his bet with Sackett.
14. Interlude: Return to Twin Oaks.
15. Cora and Frank face it; the Mountain Duet.
16. Interlude: the ending of something. "The Devil got his money's worth that night."
17. Frank's dream. The months go by. The need to escape from each other.
18. Black Comedy: Kennedy and blackmail.
19. The last duet: violence and reconciliation. The baby.
20. Death and Finale: Cora dead. The death house for Frank. No stay.
The postman always rings twice.
--Colin Graham
Commissioned by Opera Theatre of St. Louis,
Premiere Performances: June 17, 19, 23, 25, 1982
The first American production to be presented at the Edinburgh Festival, September
1983
Published by European American Music, EA 602 Vocal Score
Selected performance history:
Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater, Boston Lyric Opera, The Washington
Opera, Greater Miami Opera (Florida Grand Opera),
The Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis at Edinburgh
Festival, Opera Theatre of St. Louis
