An American Tragedy

Recorded a few weeks after the opera’s world premiere at the Met, this broadcast captures the all-star original cast of Tobias Picker’s work based on Theodore Dreiser’s searing 1925 novel of murder and social ambition. At its center is Nathan Gunn as Clyde Griffiths, the impoverished but ambitious young man from the Midwest who comes to upstate New York to work in a factory owned by his wealthy uncle. Patricia Racette is Roberta Alden, a worker in the factory who becomes his lover. But Clyde has his eye on the wealthy socialite Sondra Finchley (Susan Graham) and plots to marry her—with only Roberta and their unborn child standing in his way. Dolora Zajick gives a heartbreaking performance as Clyde’s mother, and James Conlon conducts Picker’s nuanced score.