'Manifest Destiny' - White House scenes (2)

Excerpt from the opera 'Manifest Destiny' - act 2 scene 3 - the second White House scene. Manoeuvred into moving towards war, the President is troubled by her conscience. The Director of the CIA has no patience with this, as he believes that it is America's duty to seize the Arabian oil reserves. He compels her to sign the authorisation to proceed with the war. At this point, Mohammed (now a double agent for the US military) arrives at the Oval Office. Publically, at least, Mohammed appears to be a born-again American zealot and the Director, intoxicated by the moment, reveals his own further plans for "full-spectrum dominance" over the world. The President and the Director assign Mohammed to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate the imprisoned Leila. Left alone, however, he reveals that all he wants is to seek redemption and forgiveness from his beloved Leila... Featuring Bernadette Lord as the President, Peter Willcocks as the Director of the CIA and Paul Carey Jones as Mohammed (piano - Keith Burstein). 'Manifest Destiny' (music by Keith Burstein, libretto by Dic Edwards) is an opera dealing with lives caught up in the War on Terror. It focuses on Leila and Mohammed - two Palestinian Arabs drawn into a suicide bomber cell who subsequently undergo a profound change of heart and (on the eve of their first suicide mission) renounce violence and reject their bombs. However, their attempts to achieve a peaceful resolution to their lives (in the face of a brutal and cynical war campaign) result in them becoming further - and fatally - entangled in the conflict. More information at http://www.keithburstein.co.uk.

YouTube | August 24, 2008

Tags:. .achiev. .suicid. .keith. .focus. .duti