Land of Gold -
great performances

Fri, Nov 1 9:00 P.M. NHPBS (11.1)

Land of Gold explores the making of John Adams and Peter Sellars' San Francisco Opera premiere of their latest collaboration, Girls of the Golden West, dramatizing the turbulent history of the California Gold Rush. With the new opera's title referencing Giacomo Puccini's 1910 romantic favorite The Girl of the Golden West, Adams and Sellars' work tells a harsher and more accurate story through the letters of writer Louise Clappe, who lived in a miners' settlement for a year and a half. Land of Gold takes viewers into parallel universes 170 years apart with the historical characters of 1851 on a cultural collision course, and then behind the scenes at San Francisco Opera with the cast and creatives excavating that same history within today's cultural turmoil. Amid the backstage hubbub, composer Adams, singers Julia Bullock, Paul Appleby, J'Nai Bridges, and director Sellars wrestle their bittersweet opera onto the stage. Marking filmmaker Jon Else's third documentary with Adams, Land of Gold lays bare the flamboyant but brutal roots of modern America.

Episode Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes and 0 seconds

Episode Number: 4817

All broadcast times for this episode: (show all)

Fri, Nov 1	9:00 P.M.	Land of Gold NHPBS (11.1)

About Great Performances:

GREAT PERFORMANCES, the longest-running performing arts anthology on television, continues to feature the best in the performing arts.

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Future Broadcast times for "Great Performances": (show all)

Fri, Oct 25	9:00 P.M.	Emigre NHPBS (11.1)
Sat, Oct 26	1:00 A.M.	Emigre NHPBS (11.1)
Mon, Oct 28	12:00 P.M.	Emigre NH Explore (11.2)
Mon, Oct 28	2:00 P.M.	Now Hear This: Copland: Dean of American Music NH Explore (11.2)
Fri, Nov 1	9:00 P.M.	Land of Gold NHPBS (11.1)