The Rake's Progress

Opera in Three Acts by Igor Stravinsky

Performed in English with English titles
Runtime approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission

Sunday June 19 at 3pm
Sunday June 26 at 3pm

Matthews Auditorium
McCarter Theatre
Princeton, NJ

Richard Tang Yuk, Conductor
Steven LaCosse, Director
Norman Coates, Lighting Design
Anya Klepikov, Set Design
Marie Miller, Costume Design
Ryan Tibbetts, Chorusmaster

"Ingenious, amusing and profound ... Stravinsky's savvy, admiring musical commentary on Mozart opera." -Anthony Tommasini of the NY Times

» Audience Guide | PDF

Synopsis

The Rake's Progress is a morality tale inspired by William Hogarth's 1735 series of satirical etchings, which had in turn been influenced by the literary work of his contemporary, Jonathan Swift. The poetic libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman follows Tom Rakewell after an unexpected inheritance is offered him by a Mephistophelean Nick Shadow, causing him to stray from the path of true love (his sweetheart, Ann Trulove) and righteous work into a life of gambling, whoring, investment shenanigans, and an exceedingly strange marriage to a bearded lady. The redemptive power of love saves Tom from hellfire, but Shadow curses him with madness and he ends up in Bedlam, the madhouse.

-Excerpted from an article by Arthur Lazere, 2000