An opera based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Charles M. Blow.
I saw this opera in its first season at the Metropolitan, 2021, the final show, live streamed in my local art movie theater. It is amazing and heart-breaking and the music is fabulous. This is the first African-American opera performed at the Met.
The libretto is by Kasi Lemmons and the music by Terrance Blanchard. Terrance Blanchard is a trumpeter and composer and jazz based. The music is influenced by both jazz and African American spirituals. There is a scene in a church with an African American choir.
The cast was African American as well. Mr. Blow's memoir describes growing up in the south as a young boy who has "a most peculiar grace"*. His family is in disarray and he is preyed upon by a cousin that he looks up to. The opera has an adult playing Mr. Blow and a child. The opera is a series of flashbacks as he is choosing whether or not to shoot his cousin.
Both the child playing and singing his part and the adult are excellent. They sing duets as he reviews his life. Between acts, there were interviews with both of them. The young man playing the child part has met Charles Blow and also at some point realized what he went through. He is very impressed by Mr. Blow's ability to survive all the trauma and make it into both a book and an opera. Charles Blow is at that performance as well and is interviewed.
Both Loneliness and Destiny are characters on stage and companions to the child. He is discouraged from discussing his feelings and from asking questions by his family. His father is violent and eventually chased off by his mother with a gun and Charles is abused in all the ways you imagine. Yet this opera is a triumph and they handle the abuse and violence off stage or with lights off. Charles thinks that it is his fault, as children often do, and he has no one to turn to for help when he is young. He continues with nightmares as an adult and struggles to find his way.
The title is from the Bible, Jeremiah 20:9, New International Version:
But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.
I loved this performance. I have not read the book yet but plan to. Bravo to everyone involved.
https://www.metopera.org/discover/education/educator-guides/fire-shut-up-in-my-bones/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Shut_Up_in_My_Bones
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/28/1041148196/terence-blanchards-met-opera-debut-is-a-singular-achievement-and-a-shared-succes
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/20-9.htm
*Peculiar Grace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGo4mSQs3wk