Premieres Friday, Nov. 1, 2024 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / PBS app
"Land of Gold" explores the making of San Francisco Opera’s “Girls of the Golden West,” telling the turbulent story of the California Gold Rush. With the opera’s title referencing Puccini’s 1910 romantic opera “The Girl of the Golden West,” Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams and famed director Peter Sellars’ opera tells a harsher and more complex story through the letters of writer Louise Clappe who lived in a miners’ settlement in 1850.
Spotlighting the behind-the-scenes action during the opera’s rehearsal process, the documentary highlights the creative process as actors and creative team grapple with the historical significance of the material and bringing it to the stage.
Two stories are told: One on stage in the present day, and one in the past through the opera. Soprano Julia Bullock stars in the opera as Louise Clappe with mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges as Josefa Segovia, two women among the many men caught up in the quest for wealth in the lawless mountains.
Talent:
- Jon Else – Director
- John Adams – Music
- Julie Bullock – Soprano, Louise Clappe in “Girls of the Golden West”
- Davóne Tines – Bass-baritone, Ned Peters in “Girls of the Golden West”
- J’Nai Bridges – Mezzo-soprano, Josefa Segovia in “Girls of the Golden West”
- Ryan McKinny – Bass-baritone, Clarence King in “Girls of the Golden West”
- Paul Appleby – Tenor, Joe Cannon in “Girls of the Golden West”
- Hye Jung Lee – Soprano, Ah Sing in “Girls of the Golden West”
- Elliot Madore – Baritone, Ramone in “Girls of the Golden West”
- Lorena Feijoo – Dancer, Lola Montez in “Girls of the Golden West”
- Kai Brothers – Actor, Fayette in “Girls of the Golden West”
Noteworthy Facts:
- This is Jon Else’s third documentary with Adams, following “Wonders Are Many: The Making of Doctor Atomic.”
- This is one of several Adams and Sellars collaborations, following operas “Nixon in China,” “The Death of Klinghoffer,” “Doctor Atomic,” and “I Was Looking At The Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky.”
- “Girls of the Golden West” is based on Louise Clappe’s “The Shirley Letters from California mines in 1851-52,” available in the Library of Congress.
Watch On Your Schedule: GREAT PERFORMANCES is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on PBS.org and the PBS app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.
Credits: An AfterImage Public Media production in association with Bread and Butter Films, “Land of Gold” was directed by Jon Else and produced by Jon Else and Camille Servan-Schreiber; Richard Berge is executive producer. For GREAT PERFORMANCES, Bill O’Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer.
