![[alice and baby.jpg|300]] [perusal scores](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1psyubcsOD8EGB2qSchnvz8TnKqAX3q6t?usp=drive_link) [[SELF LICENSED]] #opera #selflicensed #Savannah #oneactopera #fulllengthopera Contact me, [contact form.](https://operaandbeyond.blogspot.com/) 2015 **ALICE RYLEY, A Savannah Ghost Story.** Opera in One Act. Text and music by the composer. Commissioned by the Savannah Voice Festival, October 30, 2015. Also performed with **ANNA HUNTER** as **ALICE AND ANNA**, August 12-13, 2022 **ALICE RYLEY** was performed at Drake University in 2016. **(2015) A Savannah Ghost Story Opera in One Act Music and text by Michael Ching Commissioned by Savannah VOICE Festival and VOICExperience Maria Zouves and Sherrill Milnes, Directors Cast Six Minimum (S/M/M/T/B, plus one speaking part) Supernumeraries and/or optional chorus highly desirable. Tour operators and guides in the prologue S, M, T, Br All characters except Jailed Alice (M) Tour guide (speaking)                                 Sherrill Milnes There are two characters who play Alice Ryley Jailed Alice, 17 dressed in rags, jailed for murder                                       Mezzo Alice, the same, 16 an indentured servant, native of Ireland, recently arrived Soprano *If opera is done with minimum cast, Alice (hooded) will likely need to play woman who the baby is handed to as Jailed Alice walks to the gallows.* Mary, a midwife, a colonist entrusted with being Alice’s jailor                    Mezzo *One Tenor can play all the following characters at the producer’s option* Sailor, on the Lucky Petrel                                                                           Tenor Edward Canon, Alice’s first master, briefly. Actually named Richard Canon Tenor William Wise, running the colony cattle farm                                              Tenor The Recorder, a sort of notary/lawyer in the colony (speaking)                   Tenor *Notary plays a man of the cloth in the hanging scene, or can be done as the Recorder* *Baritone doubles two roles, one is non speaking/singing* Richard White, a young man, another indentured servant                            Baritone Greaves, the executioner for the colony (doubles Richard White)  mute  Townsfolk, at the harbor and at the hanging of Alice Riley       optional ensemble    but desirable  Scenes  The prologue and epilogue are set in contemporary Savannah. The numbered scenes are in the 1730s colony. Because the scenic elements are fluid and constantly shifting in a relatively short duration, the scenes delineated below are by character rather than by location. Prologue                          S, T, Br, BsBr, Guide (Sherrill Milnes)  More could be added Scene I On the Lucky Petrel   Jailed Alice (M), Alice (S), Richard White (B),  Sailor/Recorder (T) Mary (non-singing in this scene), optional ensemble II Edward Canon             Jailed Alice (M), Alice (S), Edward Canon (BsBr) III Richard and Alice           Jailed Alice (M), Alice (S), R. White (B), William Wise (T) IV The Murder of William Wise      Jailed Alice (M), Mary (M), William Wise (T) V The Two Alices            Jailed Alice (M), Mary (M), Alice (S) VI Letter to Oglethorpe        Jailed Alice (M), Mary (M), Recorder (T) Interlude between scene vi and vii   Jailed Alice, Mary, Recorder (no speaking or singing) VII Lullaby                      Jailed Alice (M), Mary(M) VIII The Hanging             Jailed Alice (M), Greaves (BsBr), Mary (M), Recorder (T),  Alice (S)                                  optional extra ensemble Epilogue                          Sherrill, Jailed Alice (M) Alice Ryley has been written for the Savannah Voice Festival and VOICExperience, which provide educational and performance opportunities for young artists. In general, the vocal lines have been written with diatonic intervals with dissonances created between the accompaniment and the vocal lines. It is hoped that this will facilitate the learning of the music and allow the performers to be comfortable onstage, free to commit themselves to the drama. While this approach was started as a technical facilitation, in the end I am quite pleased by its artistic impact. I am grateful to Michael Harris and Linda Sickler for allowing me to quote their book, HISTORIC HAUNTS OF SAVANNAH and particularly to Michael for his advice and research on the early milieu of the colony; to Aine Ui Cheallaigh for advice on the “Ballyeamon Cradle Song” and the Gaelic pronunciation of the Ár nAthair/Our Father; to Maria and Sherrill for the advice, insight, and encouragement; and to the many other Savannah residents who have helped bring ALICE RYLEY back to life.                                                          -Michael Ching FULL SYNOPSIS Michael Ching Story is loosely interpreted from the records of Savannah in the 1730s. The opera switches between two versions of the main character, Jailed Alice, and Alice. Eventually it is clear that Jailed Alice is telling the story to her jailer, Mary. In the prologue, a group of tour guides encourages tourists to board the orange trolley for a tour of the city. A tour guide  gets off the trolley and tells us about Wright Square, site of the first hanging in the colony.  <iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1475715880&color=%23ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3" title="Michael Ching" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Michael Ching</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3/alice-ryley-prologue-climb" title="Alice Ryley Prologue Climb Aboard" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Alice Ryley Prologue Climb Aboard</a></div> Scene i. A bedraggled young woman, Jailed Alice, recalls the terrible crossing from Ireland to America--deaths aboard ship, being becalmed for weeks, food running out. She has been signed to a contract of indenture. Aboard ship, Alice meets a fellow passenger, Richard White, who saves her from being taken in by a predatory sailor. Instead of arriving at Philadelphia, they arrive at Savannah, only to be held aboard ship for quarantine.  Scene ii. Governor Oglethorpe purchases the indenture contracts and Alice is sent to the home of Edward Canon. We see Alice saying the Lord’s Prayer as she was taught, in Gaelic. She is interrupted by her master, Canon, who is virulently anti-Irish and he throws her out of the house for speaking “Irish” in his house. <iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/228993514&color=%23ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/ashley-dannewitz" title="Ashley Dannewitz" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Ashley Dannewitz</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ashley-dannewitz/the-lords-prayer-our-father-from-alice-ryley-by-michael-ching" title="The Lord&#x27;s Prayer (Our Father) from Alice Ryley by Michael Ching" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">The Lord&#x27;s Prayer (Our Father) from Alice Ryley by Michael Ching</a></div> Scene iii. Alice is then assigned to the colony cattle farm on Hutchison’s Island. The first person she runs across is Richard White, also assigned to work there. White warns her about their new master, William Wise, who is a cruel man. Jailed Alice recalls that she loved Richard’s loquacity and his spark, so much unlike her own beaten-down father. Richard tells Alice about his big dreams--maybe he’ll head south and join the Spaniards, go north and join the pirates. He disdains indentured servitude and it becomes clear he hates their master who behaves like a king or emperor. His unchecked anger frightens Alice and he softens, bestowing a kiss on her.  Jailed Alice recalls that she fell in love with Richard. Alice and Richard are together and although it is clear they love each other, Richard is more committed to himself than to her. They call each other “gramachree,” love of my heart, in Gaelic. During their love scene, we notice their master, William Wise, spying on them. Scene iv. Jailed Alice recalls their master, who had been in poor health, deteriorating. And one day, Richard snapped. Wise makes Richard White open and pour a bottle of Madeira for him, taunting White with a description of its tasty virtues. He mentions that he has spied on the lovers, much to their shock. He makes White comb his hair and says he is going to get White a new assignment with a much crueller master who would prefer to have slaves. As Wise taunts him--“I’m going to send you there”--White grabs his master and strangles him. Alice is there, but helpless to stop it. With no choice, Alice goes with Richard White in an attempt to escape to the woods.  Scene v. Jailed Alice recalls they were caught, jailed, tried, and convicted. Sick and alone, Alice interacts with her jailor, Mary, who notices that Jailed Alice is pregnant. She says the colony would not hang an innocent child and will go to the judge for a stay of Alice’s execution. Mary recalls having seen Alice as they were held on the dock for quarantine and it was clear to her that Alice was not meant for the rigors of Savannah. Jailer and jailed have become friendlier.  In an unusual duet, Alice and Jailed Alice lament the difficult hand they have been dealt. She resolves to try to save herself with a plea to Oglethorpe so that she can be there for her child, who she believes will be a boy. (Alice exits and the rest of the opera is played by Jailed Alice.) <iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1475715697&color=%23ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3" title="Michael Ching" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Michael Ching</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3/alice-ryley-scene-v-the-two" title="Alice Ryley Scene v The Two Alices PV 75-" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Alice Ryley Scene v The Two Alices PV 75-</a></div> Scene vi. Mary brings the town recorder, Miles, to the jail. Jailed Alice, now very visibly pregnant, dictates a letter to Governor Oglethorpe, begging for mercy so that she can be there for her child. During this dictation, it is clear Mary is beginning to wonder what will happen to the baby. After finishing the dictation, Alice adds a postscript--she will name the baby James in Oglethorpe’s honor. The recorder, who has already somewhat packed up, adds this, irritated.  <iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/227320507&color=%23ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/jessicaabestmezzosoprano" title="JessicaABestMezzoSoprano" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">JessicaABestMezzoSoprano</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/jessicaabestmezzosoprano/letter-to-oglethorpe-from-alice-ryley-by-michael-ching-live-recording" title="&quot;Letter To Oglethorpe&quot; from Alice Ryley By Michael Ching. : LIVE RECORDING" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">&quot;Letter To Oglethorpe&quot; from Alice Ryley By Michael Ching. : LIVE RECORDING</a></div> During a musical interlude, Alice ponders her future. In a pantomime, Mary asks for the letter. The recorder assures her he will take care of it. Mary pays him and exits. Alone, the Recorder takes his lantern and burns the letter in disgust.  Scene vii. Alice sings an Irish lullaby to her baby. Mary looks on. Alice is making a doll out of scraps of cloth and straw and gives it to him. Indirectly at first, Mary asks if she might raise James if Jailed Alice is sent to the gallows. Mary agrees and says that when she sings the lullaby to him, it will be like she has come back to see him.  <iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1475715589&color=%23ff5500&inverse=false&auto_play=false&show_user=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3" title="Michael Ching" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Michael Ching</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3/alice-ryley-scene-vii-the" title="Alice Ryley Scene vii The Ballyeamon Cradle Song PV P 102" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Alice Ryley Scene vii The Ballyeamon Cradle Song PV P 102</a></div> Scene viii. Alice is roughly awoken by the hooded executioner. Her baby is handed off and she is paraded through a group of taunting townsfolk to the gallows in Wright Square. She frantically cries for her baby. She is hooded for execution and the light changes, as if from the point of view of inside the burlap hood. The recorder recites the 23rd Psalm. Mary runs up with the baby saying the request for clemency has failed. As a midwife, she had been busy birthing a baby, and has only just been able to come. Jailed Alice is hung and swings on the gallows. Epilogue. The tour guide sums things up. He sits down on a bench and discovers the doll Jailed Alice made for her son. As he picks up the doll, the ghost of Jailed Alice comes onstage, briefly singing the lullaby to her baby. Here's the whole playlist <iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/1589273971&color=%23064483&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3" title="Michael Ching" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Michael Ching</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/michael-ching-3/sets/alice-ryley-a-savannah-ghost-story-opera-by-michael-ching" title="ALICE RYLEY, a Savannah Ghost Story, opera by Michael Ching" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">ALICE RYLEY, a Savannah Ghost Story, opera by Michael Ching</a></div> **ALICE RYLEY** was the first opera I wrote as composer-in-residence at the Savannah Voice Festival. I remember Sherrill Milnes and Maria Zouves having a call with me while I was on vacation in Montreal. They wanted a singer focused piece that had arias and ensembles in it. Sherrill specifically mentioned having the voice and accompaniment end at the same time in an aria, not like often happens in Mozart operas where there is exit music. Known for its ghost stories, Maria got me a book, HISTORIC HAUNTS OF SAVANNAH by Michael Harris and Linda Sickler. I picked some favorites and the story of Alice rose to the top. There were a couple of workshops--in New York and Florida. Sherrill Milnes was given a cameo. The Alice, Jessica Ann Best, grew powerfully into her role. In order to further demonstrate Alice's position as a lowly Irish outsider, I had her discovered by her master praying in Gaelic. Through the North American Folk Alliance, I found Aine Ui Cheallaigh who helped me with the the Gaelic pronunciation of the Ár nAthair/Our Father.