Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking wraps up CCP The Met: Live in HD Season 9

SCREENING ADVISORY:

Due to the inclement weather brought by Tropical Storm Enteng, today's screening of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking has been postponed to September 10, 2024, 5:30 PM. 

Please note that you may still use your tickets at Cinema 1 of Greenbelt 3 on the rescheduled date.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and hope you remain safe and well during this time.

Thank you for your understanding.

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, a contemporary opera masterpiece wraps up the 9th Season of the Cultural Center of the Philippines' CCP The Met: LIVE in HD this September 3, 2024, 5:30 PM at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas in Makati.

Adapted from the 1993 memoir of Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking, composed by Jake Heggie, with libretto by Tony and Emmy Award–winner Terrence McNally has since become the most widely performed new opera of the last 20 years. It has made its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera stage in a new production by Ivo van Hove. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Met Orchestra.

Joyce DiDonato

Singing the role of Sister Helen Prejean is the multi-Grammy Award winning, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Joining DiDonato in the cast are bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Joseph De Rocher, soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who originated the role of Helen Prejean in the opera’s 2000 premiere, as De Rocher’s mother.

Tickets are priced at P350 each with a special discounted price of P100 for students and young professionals upon presenting their respective IDs.

Reprinted below is the press release for CCP The Met: LIVE in HD screening of Jake Heneggie's Dead Man Walking.

BLURRING THE LINE BETWEEN HUMANITY AND JUSTICE IN CCP THE MET: LIVE IN HD’S DEAD MAN WALKING

Ryan McKinny and Joyce DiDonato

Dead Man Walking, a contemporary opera by Jake Heggie, begins and ends with a murder.

Based on the nonfiction book of the same title on the recollection of events that happened in 1982 by Sister Helen Prejean, Heggie’s Dead Man Walking is a harrowing yet beautiful tale of forgiveness, regret, and unlikely friendships in the middle of pursuing justice.

Sister Helen Prejean meets her new pen pal, convicted murderer Joseph De Rocher who is sitting on death row for the murder of a young couple. After agreeing to be Joseph’s spiritual adviser, Sister Prejean meets his family along with the victims’ loved ones. Coming from an environment where kindness is taught and nurtured, she starts to question the nature of humans. Joseph faces the inevitable, and his newfound friend Sister Prejean is left to confront the inner workings of America’s justice system.

Susan Graham (kneeling) in Dead Man Walking

“Who was I to sit in judgment?” wrote Sister Prejean in her nonfiction book, as she navigates the thorny journey toward the truth. She grapples with waves of grief, doubt, and hope while confronting violence and its bitter aftertaste. Despite initially having second thoughts, Sister Prejean assures that Joseph’s tragedy is seen through the lens of love and forgiveness.

Beyond the confines of the theater, Sister Prejean established Survive, an organization assisting the bereaved families of the criminal justice system’s victims.

Ryan McKinny and Joyce DiDonato

Since its world premiere in October 2000, Dead Man Walking has been one of the pioneers of policy debates concerning mass incarceration and racial slavery.

Hailed as the most impactful piece of American music theater since Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story, the opera is decorated with Heggie’s poignant storytelling and the brilliance of Terrence McNally’s libretto. Under the stage direction of Tony award-winner Ivo van Hove, Dead Man Walking exhibits a minimalist but abstract vision, exposing the harsh realities caused by injustice.

Joyce DiDonato and Ryan McKinny

Stepping into the shoes of Sister Helen Prejean is the multi-Grammy Award winner Joyce DiDonato, alongside award-winning soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose. Versatile bass-baritone Ryan McKinny is the repentant Joseph De Rocher, and Opera’s Sweetheart Susan Graham plays his hopeful mother.

The opera’s nuanced portrayal of the blurry lines between faith, humanity, and hope will surely prompt audiences to recognize themselves in each character’s dilemma.

Joyce DiDonato (center) in Dead Man Walking

Closing the curtains of the CCP The Met: LIVE in HD Season 9, Heggie’s Dead Man Walking will grace the Philippine cinema on September 3, at 5:30 p.m., exclusively at Greenbelt 3, Cinema 1.

Students and young professionals may avail of the special discounted price of PHP100 upon presenting a valid ID while regular tickets are priced at PHP350. To buy your tickets, you may visit the venue’s ticket booth or book them online via www.sureseats.com.

 

Follow the CCP’s official social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. For more information about CCP The Met: LIVE in HD, please visit the official Facebook page of the CCP Film, Broadcast and New Media or the CCP website (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph).

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In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier’s death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. She also came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute—men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.

Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Here Sister Helen confronts both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the fears of a society shattered by violence and the Christian imperative of love.

On its original publication in 1993, Dead Man Walking emerged as an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty. Now, some two decades later, this story—which has inspired a film, a stage play, an opera and a musical album—is more gut-wrenching than ever, stirring deep and life-changing reflection in all who encounter it.