Intoxication: America's Love Affair with Oil

Libretto by Ben Allen-Kingsland • Music by Chappell Kingsland

Intoxication: America's Love Affair with Oil is a full-length chamber opera in two acts. Individual scenes may be performed independently or as part of the complete 90-minute work, making it ideal for both excerpt and mainstage programming. The score blends a wide range of American musical idioms—musical theater, art music, jazz, rock, country and more—into a cohesive dramatic language characterized by catchy melodies, speech-like vocal rhythms, harmonic intrigue, and colorful orchestration.

   History
— 2010: Began research, scenario development, libretto and musical sketches
— 2012: Premiere of one scene (Bloomington, Indiana)
— 2013: Full premiere: two performances by New Voices Opera (Bloomington, Indiana)
— 2016: Four performances by Thompson Street Opera (Louisville, Kentucky)
— 2017: Performance of one scene by Opera On Tap (Lafayette, Colorado)
— 2018: Performance of one scene by Opera On Tap (Washington, DC)

Personnel
Scenes: Eight or more operatic vocalists (SSMMTTBB), each to sing lead roles, secondary roles, and chorus. Each scene tells a self-contained story with new characters.
—Exceptions: Scene 3 is an Aria for solo Baritone. Scene 5 is a Quartet for four women.

Dances: Two dancers. One appears as AMERICA throughout, the other as OIL throughout; these are essentially the main characters of the opera.
—Exceptions: Dance 5 requires an additional 3 dancers (who may be drawn from the vocalists), and Dance 9 is optimal with additional dancers (drawn from the vocalists).

Orchestra: 17 instruments (Flute, Clarinet, Alto Sax, 2 Trumpets, Bass Trombone, Percussion, Drumset, Acoustic Guitar/Banjo, Electric Guitar, Synthesizer, Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Doublebass, Electric Bass).
—Two of the dances only require 3 or 4 instruments; the other dances and all scenes require between 10 and 17 instruments.

Difficulty level: College students or professionals

   Flexibility
— Intoxication: America's Love Affair with Oil is an episodic opera: each scene is self-contained, allowing productions to present any combination of the scenes and dances. The overall dramatic arc is felt in the chronological progression of scenes, the growing urgency leading to the unresolved tensions of the present day, and in the love affair shown during the dances. 
— The vocalists portray different characters in each scene, while the dancers consistently represent America and Oil.
— Anywhere between 8 and 50 vocalists may be used, depending on whether each vocalist performs in multiple scenes or just one scene, and how large the chorus is.
— Flexible staging options, duration, and personnel make the work especially suitable for educational outreach, touring productions, and venues of different sizes.

   Synopsis

ACT I
Dance 1: Prologue - Duration: 3 minutes
AMERICA (Dancer) • OIL (Dancer) • 13 instruments
   Oil rises from the depths. America notices.

Scene 1: Discovery at Spindletop - Duration: 7 minutes
FOREMAN (Tenor) • ANTHONY LUCAS (Baritone) • CHORUS • AMERICA (Dancer) • OIL (Dancer) • 15 instruments
   1901: Anthony Lucas discovers the first massive oil well in the USA. Workmen and a crowd of spectators realize: we'll be rich!

Dance 2: New Love - Duration: 3 minutes
AMERICA (Dancer) • OIL (Dancer) • 3 instruments (Washboard, Banjo, Piano)
   All is going swimmingly in this Ragtime/Americana/Bluegrass dance.

Scene 2: Tin Lizzie / Dance 3: The Twenties that Roared - Duration: 15 minutes
SALESWOMAN (Soprano) • EX-FOREMAN (Tenor) • PRESIDENT TAFT (Tenor) • GAS STATION ATTENDANT (Baritone) • CHORUS • AMERICA (Dancer) • OIL (Dancer) • 15 instruments
   1908-1928: A charmingly persuasive saleswoman extols the virtues of Henry Ford's new automobile, the Model T. A former oil man blames his failure on the Standard Oil corporation; President Taft tries to break Rockefeller's monopoly. Time marches on and the Model A is the hot new thing.

Scene 3: The Dust Came Down - Duration: 5:30
CHARLIE (Baritone) • 11 instruments
   1936: An out-of-work Okie laments hard times in the Dustbowl era.

Scene 4: Yankee Comet - Duration: 8:30
THREE WOMEN (Soprano, 2 Mezzos) • FOUR SAILORS (2 Tenors, 2 Baritones) • 14 instruments
   1943: An oil tanker is on a mission to deliver US oil to the Allies during World War II. Three women (reminiscient of the Andrews Sisters) sing a warning, but the tanker is attacked by a German U-Boat.

Dance 4: Dance of Mourning and Yearning - Duration: 4:30
AMERICA (Dancer) • 16 instruments
   America laments the loss of young lives in the war.

—INTERMISSION—

ACT II
Scene 5: Essential Oil - Duration: 5:30
FOUR HOUSEWIVES (2 Sopranos, 2 Mezzos) • 10 instruments
   1957: Suburban housewives have conflicting feelings about their post-war roles, but share an excitement for a host of new consumer products. (Is it true that TVs and toothpaste include chemicals derived from oil?)

Dance 5: International Affairs - Duration: 4:30
AMERICA (Dancer) • OIL (Dancer) • RUSSIA (Dancer) • SAUDI ARABIA (Dancer) • VENEZUELA (Dancer) • 17 instruments
   Oil starts seeing other countries. America gets jealous.

Scene 6: Presidential Promises - Duration: 11:30
PRESIDENT NIXON (Baritone) • PRESIDENT FORD (Tenor) • PRESIDENT CARTER (Baritone) • PRESIDENT REAGAN (Tenor) • CHORUS • 14 instruments
   1971-1986: Three presidents sing text from their actual speeches about how we are going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. President Reagan has a different viewpoint.

Scene 7: This Land - Duration: 4 minutes
No vocalists or dancers • 11 instruments
   A slideshow of the land we live on and how it has changed over time.

Scene 8: The Fires - Duration: 11 minutes
NEWSCASTER 2010 (Soprano) • NEWSCASTER 1991 (Mezzo) • CARL SAGAN (Tenor) PRESIDENT BUSH (Spoken role) • CHORUS • OIL (Dancer) • 14 instruments
   1991 / 2010: After the first Persian Gulf war, the Kuwaiti oil fires rage. After the Deepwater Horizon rig sinks, a massive oil spill erupts. Carl Sagan offers some hard truths.

Dance 6: Confrontation - Duration: 1:30
AMERICA (Dancer) • OIL (Dancer) • 4 instruments (Drumset, Electric Guitar, Synthesizer, Electric Bass)
   America and Oil speak for the first time. America is fed up with Oil's manipulations and wants to leave. Oil has another idea.

Scene 9: The American Way of Life - Duration: 10:30
FOUR RURAL SINGERS (SMTB) • FOUR URBAN SINGERS (SMTB) • optional CHORUS • AMERICA (Dancer) • OIL (Dancer) • 17 instruments
   Present Day: A close look at the USA's Rural/Urban divide to grapple with the question, "What is the American way of life?" How do we all feel about our dependence on oil, and are any of us ready to give it up?

Total duration: 90 minutes

   Videos
Complete performance by New Voices Opera (Bloomington, Indiana)

Act II performed by Thompson Street Opera (Louisville, Kentucky)

Scene 3 (Aria) performed by Connor Lidell (Bloomington, Indiana)