Intoxication: America's Love Affair with Oil

a new opera

Music by Chappell Kingsland

Libretto by Ben Allen-Kingsland

Produced by New Voices Opera in 2013

Stage Direction: Lee Cromwell

Musical Direction: Carlos Botero, conductor

Choreography: Joe Musiel

Scene 1. Discovery at Spindletop, 1901.

Just south of Beaumont, Texas. Anthony Lucas’s drilling team discover the first massive oil field in the USA. A crowd of spectators is excited about how rich they will become.

Dance 2: New Love

America and Oil celebrate the first flush of new love.

Scene 4: Yankee Comet, 1943

Onboard the Yankee Comet in the North Atlantic. Charlie and crewman on an oil tanker sing about their mission to deliver oil to the Allies. A convoy tries to protect them from a U-Boat attack, but fails. The tanker is torpedoed and all the men are lost.

Dance 4: Yearning

America dances alone, mourning the loss of young lives in the war.