Mikey Smith's story to be made into a reggae opera

Recent recipient of a gold Musgrave Medal and renowned musician Peter Ashbourne dreams of putting on a reggae opera.

The production involved in an opera is similar to that of a Broadway musical - there are dozens of actors, dancers, singers and crew teeming across the stage and beyond the wings and backdrop.

Ashbourne hopes Mikey - A Reggae Opera, the tragic story of a Jamaica dub poet who disrupted a political meeting where he encountered political thugs, who stoned him to death, will soon make its way on to a stage.

To develop his idea, the maestro reached out to Professor Emeritus Mervyn Morris, who had already delved deep into his research on the tragic figure, to be the opera's librettist. Morris is also a recipient of a gold Musgrave Medal this year.

"Peter came to me with the idea that he wanted to write an opera on Mikey Smith. I had already edited It A Come, which is Mikey's only book. I had interviews with Mikey, and so on - so he thought that we could work together, which we did," Morris told The Gleaner.

With the help of Alvin Campbell to produce the opera's lyrics, the three man team toiled for what Morris simply describes as "a long time ... . We went through changes, and we hoped that it might get produced, but I'm not sure there is anywhere really available to stage it," Professor Morris confessed.

Broadway musical

"The reggae opera comes under musical theatre, and it need not just be a dramatic presentation, but there's music involved. Broadway musical sets use large ensembles of dancers, singers and musicians. The problem in Jamaica is, we have the theatre spaces, but the space for the big band is just not there," Ashbourne told The Gleaner.

The composer notes that even if the Ward Theatre was operational, the orchestra pit, which is currently the largest on the island, is small for a full band. Ashbourne defines an opera as a spectacle, and argues that the evolution of entertainment into film and television has gradually muffled the unnatural splendour known as the theatrical arts. "It's the spectacle of it, the suspension of disbelief," he said. He explained that the suspension of disbelief was easier in the 19th-century. For example, in the opera Aida, which premiered on December 24, 1871, the players regularly performed with live horses and elephants entering the stage. "Grand operas tends to be like that. This is where I see the reggae opera, and that is what we're trying for," he said.

A few years ago, the reggae opera had a soft premiere.

"What was premiered was excerpts in a concert form. There has been no production of it yet," Morris clarified. Despite the mammoth obstacles, the two hope that their dream of staging the opera will one day come through.