What a marvelous project! It’s wonderfully original and clever and sounds like it would be another great Jesus Christ, Superstar. Oh, I so hope it becomes real. I agree on the set decoration. It would be spectacular. There is precedent. Damnation of Faust by Berlioz. Yours sounds more accessible.
Closest I ever got to anything like that was when someone sent me the script for an opera they were doing on Henry Livingston and wanted me to vet the dialog my character would be singing. AWK! Now THAT’s a project that REALLY won’t get off the ground!
I loved the U of C campus. Mother met father in the same temporary building where I had my Humanities class. There was a Gargoyle’s Graveyard for the sculptures that fell off the buildings. Botony Pond was my favorite area, with the covered walkway and a magnificent tree that bloomed a delicate purple in the spring. There are murals all over Ida Noyes Hall of girls dancing in chiffon on the midway, as mother did in her class.
“Dr. Livingston, I presume.” I bet everybody would be waiting to hear that line.
I have to check out the Damnation of Faust. I’m not a big Berlioz’s fan, to be honest... don’t know his work. I had the idea that Hell should be like Egypt with pyramids because God drowned the Egyptian army that chased Moses across the Red Sea. I also think they should sing with an stutter to indicate some kind of disorder — usually dissonant music indicates disorder but that has been done too often. I also think Hell should be stylized, maybe an Egyptian/Hell’s Angels look. If you have any ideas let me know.
The music is written and here’s an example of my overture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6uMJClSV6s