Emil Griffith: From Opera Libretto to Theatrical Play

Emil Griffith's extraordinary life inspired a successful opera and now a play to share his untold story.

### The Journey of Emil Griffith: From Opera to Play
* 🎶 The story of Emil Griffith was first introduced to the speaker by composer and jazz trumpet player **Terence Blanchard**, who had previously collaborated with them on **two films**.
* 🎭 Blanchard was commissioned by Opera Theater St. Louis to create an opera about Griffith, prompting him to ask the speaker to **write the libretto**.
* 📚 Initially unfamiliar with Griffith's life, the speaker conducted research and discovered the **extraordinary nature of his story**, leading to their agreement to write the libretto.
* ✍ Despite having no prior experience in writing a libretto, the speaker began by **crafting a play** and then adapted it for the opera format, which premiered in **St. Louis two years ago**.
* 🌟 The opera has since enjoyed success, with performances in **San Francisco** and plans for a showing in **Washington, DC next year**.
* 📜 Due to the shorter nature of opera librettos compared to plays, the speaker had a **wealth of material** that was **not included in the opera**.
* 🏛 When the Court Theater approached the speaker about creating a play based on the libretto, it provided an opportunity to **expand on Griffith's life** and the aspects of his story that were **left out of the opera**.
* ✨ This new project has been a fulfilling chance for the speaker to **complete the narrative of Emil Griffith's remarkable life**.

So the story of Emil Griffith was first introduced to me by Terence Blanchard, who's a wonderful composer and jazz trumpet player. Terence and I had worked on two of the pictures that I directed; he wrote the music for two of them. He was commissioned by Opera Theater St. Louis to write an opera, and he chose the subject of Emil Griffith. Then he came to me and asked me to write the libretto for it. At that time, I didn't know anything about Emil, so I did some research and realized what an extraordinary story his life is. So, I agreed to do the libretto, but having never written a libretto before, when I sat down to work on it, I basically wrote a play and then adapted the play into what was needed for the libretto. So, we did

the Opera. It uh two years ago. It was done in St. Louis. It's been pretty successful. It was done in San Francisco. And next year, it'll be done in Washington, DC. Um, and um, what happened was that there was uh so much material that I had sort of written in this play form um that we hadn't been able to get into the uh Opera because in Opera libretto is much shorter than a play. And um, and the music is sort of the center. So when the court theater uh contacted me uh and asked if I were interested in doing a play about Amal based on the libretto, it was really the reverse of that. I already had most of the play um, and I had so much material that I wanted to use the uh parts of his life and aspects of his life and aspects of the story that I just couldn't get into the Opera. So this has been a really great opportunity to finish uh for me to finish telling the story of uh Amal's life.

Michael Cristofer

courtchicago

The Introduction of Emil Griffith's Story

Terence Blanchard, a composer and jazz trumpet player, introduced the story of Emil Griffith to the narrator.

Blanchard was commissioned to write an opera about Griffith and asked the narrator to write the libretto.

The narrator, unfamiliar with Griffith's life, did research and found it to be an extraordinary story, leading to the adaptation of a play into the libretto.

The Success of the Amal Opera and Its Transition to a Play

The opera about Amal has been successful, with performances in St.

Louis and San Francisco, and upcoming in Washington, DC.

The playwright had written extensive material that couldn't be included in the opera's shorter libretto.

The opportunity to create a play based on the libretto has allowed the playwright to finish telling Amal's life story.