| Film
Riders of the Purple Sage: The Making of a Western Opera
| Trailer
Opera’s hallowed traditions and America’s cowboy culture converge to celebrate the collaborative power of art.
”A soaring and epic testimonial to the creative process.”
BROADWAY WORLD
| Winner of Three 2021 Rocky Mountain Emmy® Awards
- Best Arts & Entertainment Program
- Best Director (Long Form)
- Technical Achievement
| Synopsis
Follow a classically trained composer as he adapts a dime novel masterpiece into a grand opera. In 1912, Zane Grey’s “Riders of the Purple Sage” flew off bookshelves around the world. A century later, composer Craig Bohmler dives into Zane Grey’s cabin during a rainstorm. There, amidst posters from Grey’s Hollywood Westerns, he discovers a story with the scope of opera. What begins as a challenge between a composer and his librettist evolves into a creative posse of artists, musicians, and singers sharing a singular vision. When internationally renowned landscape painter Ed Mell agrees to translate Arizona’s landscape into scenery, the opera accelerates toward its world premiere. A team of creatives translate cowboy culture and the beauty of the West into the realm of Puccini and Verdi.
The power of the novel is reclaimed opening night with an opera that marries cutting-edge stagecraft with matinee heroes. ”Riders of the Purple Sage: The Making of a Western Opera” traces the metamorphosis of making a great story stand up and sing.
| Film Credits
- Director/Producer: Kristin Atwell Ford
- Executive Producers, Billie Jo & Judd Herberger
- Produced by Quantum Leap Productions in collaboration with Arizona Opera
- Camera/Editor/Production Supervisor: Bill Davis
- Editor/Graphics: Misty Wilson
- Consulting Editor: Jacob Bricca
- Additional Camera: Robert Pflumm, Steven Snow, Jacob Mroczek, Greg Voigt
- Co-Executive Producers: J. Scott Hooker, Jennifer E. & Charles F. Sands, Dr Arlyn & Dr. Rex Brewster, Marcia & Hugh Ruddock, Christine Mollring, Caleb Reese
- Zane Grey read by Peter Coyote
| Press & Reviews
- Broadway World • film review
- Video Librarian • film review
- Frontdoors Media, “Riders Rides Again” • cover story
- Broadway World • virtual benefit
- Video Librarian • director interview
| Awards
- 2021 Rocky Mountain Emmy® Awards
- Best Arts & Entertainment Program
- Best Director (Long Form)
- Technical Achievement
| Partners
Riders of the Purple Sage – The Opera
Ed Mell Gallery
| Credits
“RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE” Presented by Arizona Opera
THE OPERA CAST and CREATIVES
WORLD PREMIERE CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
Composer Craig Bohmler
Librettist Steven Mark Kohn
Conductor Joseph Mechavich
Stage Director Fenlon Lamb
Scenic Design Ed Mell
Lighting Design Gregory Allen Hirsch
Costume Design Kathleen Trott
Projection Design Jake Pinholster
Co-Producer Kristin Atwell Ford
Executive Producers Billie Jo & Judd Herberger
Sponsored by Dr. Rex and Dr. Arlyn Brewster and Frieda Elizabeth Reish
Lassiter: baritones Morgan Smith / Joshua Jeremiah
Jane Withersteen: sopranos Karin Wolverton / Laura Wilde
Bern Venters: tenor Joshua Dennis
Bess: soprano Amanda Opuszynski
Bishop Dyer: bass-baritone Kristopher Irmiter
Elder Tull: baritone Keith Phares
PRESS
“An opera as monumental and well-crafted as Craig Bohmler’s Riders of the Purple Sage can now lay claim to a rightful place in the canon of works about the American West. In its World Premiere, as part of Arizona Opera’s Arizona Bold Initiative, Riders is literally and figuratively blazing new trails, demonstrating the relevance and value of the age-old genre in a dynamic and memorable production.
— Broadway World
“Forget what you’ve heard about opera being remote and elitist. Opera is the art form that, perhaps more than any other, specializes in heightened emotion, and in finding ways to communicate it.” THE WASHINGTON POST
Zane Grey’s 1912 novel, “Riders of the Purple Sage” is driven by conflicts we still face today. The story features the “patriarchy-smashing heroine,” Jane Withersteen, who fights her churchmen’s abuse of power while she struggles to maintain her personal relationship with God. Enter Lassiter, the gunslinger. In the archetype of Lassiter, Zane Grey crafted the image of how America loves to see itself – as the lone hero who sets everything straight.
If Grey’s story provides the blood, the forward momentum of mounting a new opera is the film’s beating heart. The film is organized by a simple principle: how do you make an opera? Opera is larger than life, requires the cooperation of an army of artists, and must adapt to survive. Opera gathers all the arts in a single heightened explosion of human experience. It may, in fact, be the perfect art form for our times.
“Riders of the Purple Sage” is the headwaters of the Western genre. It’s a timeless story about grief, redemption, and what it takes to live in the punishingly beautiful land I call home. With its musical storytelling, grand setting, and mix of writers, singers, musicians, and my favorite living painter, this film fulfills my soul’s need for wilderness and art.
Kristin Atwell Ford
Director/Producer
Arizona
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