History MADE: "Fire Shut Up in My Bones": The FIRST opera composed by a Black man, Louisianian Terence Blanchard, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York's Lincoln Center was a HUGE success! Thanks

NO LONGER ON THE STAGE (9/27/21 - 10/23/21): "Fire Shut Up in My Bones": The FIRST opera composed by a Black man at the Metropolitan Opera in New York's Lincoln Center was a HUGE success! The first time a work by a Black composer, Louisianian Terence Blanchard, celebrated for his musical scores in Spike Lee's films, among other honors, has been presented there in its 138-year history. Fire Shut Up in My Bones was a sold-out smash hit in the opera house. And that Kappa Alpha Psi step show in the 3rd Act! Screens were available for 1,700 persons to watch in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. The run has ended so we must wait to see where it surfaces again. The opera's feeling of isolation, even when surrounded by a community and a family that loves you, resonated with Grammy-winning jazz musician Terence Blanchard when he read fellow Louisianian and New York Times columnist Charles Blow’s memoir, “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” Blow had suffered from childhood sexual abuse and the questioning and shame in its wake — he said because he hadn’t the language, skills and courage to better navigate what he had experienced. Now he had all three, chiefly the language he said. The opera takes place in and around the small and poor town of Gibsland, in northwestern Louisiana, as well as at Charles Blow’s (on whom the story is based) alma mater, Grambling State University. The time ranges from Charles’s childhood in the 1970s to his adulthood in the 1990s. And, that Kappa Alpha Psi step dance in the 3rd Act was thrilling! The New York Times critic wrote: "Opening Act III is a step number that stops the show in its tracks. On opening night, the dancers held their final pose, one foot crossed over the other as sweat poured down their faces. Frozen in a line facing the audience, they tried to control their breathing as the audience clapped and roared. And clapped and roared some more. It lasted for more than a minute, and it was spectacular." Camille Brown, who shares directorial duties with James Robinson, is the first Black artist to direct a mainstage Met production. She is also the opera’s choreographer, and as such has brought social dance — step, the percussive form popular at historically Black colleges and universities — to the Met stage. Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The libretto (written story) for Fire Shut Up in My Bones marks the first foray into opera for Kasi Lemmons, a noted writer, actress, and director. Lemmons tenderly reveals Blow’s coming of age as “a boy of peculiar grace” in shorts and tube socks, to a college student in a fraternity sweater who realizes that grace means, “a dangerous existence for a man of my race.” What writing! https://www.metopera.org/season/2021-22-season/fire-shut-up-in-my-bones/ Jeremiah 20:9 New International Version 9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.