Carlisle Floyd's Willie Stark (2008)

Power, passion, and politics collide in Carlisle Floyd's dynamic setting of All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren's classic story of ambition, betrayal, and violent tragedy. In Floyd's immediately engaging and beautifully paced opera, the great demagogue of America's political fiction, Willie Stark, springs to life as an unforgettable stage character. Willie's meteoric and soul-searching rise from grassroots politician to powerful and ruthless state governor is captured in words and music that are rousing, moving, and haunting. With personalities and events that could be ripped from today's headlines, LSU Opera's new Willie Stark brings fresh excitement to a quintessentially American masterpiece.