Jake Heggie's opera 'Dead Man Walking'

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Synopsis As the 20th century drew to its close, some who followed the development of opera were struck by the number of new American operas on American themes. On today’s date in 2000, one of these new operas debuted in San Francisco. Dead Man Walking , an opera in two acts, was based on a 1993 book by Sister Helen Prejean, a book also made into a successful movie. The libretto for the operatic version of Sister Prejean’s book was crafted by Terrance McNally and set to music by American composer Jake Heggie. Now, an opera based on eyewitness accounts of American prisoners on death row might seem an unlikely topic for an opera, but Sister Prejean didn’t think so. “I love the way the opera…