Fellow Travelers is an opera in 16 scenes composed by Gregory Spears to a libretto by Greg Pierce, based on Thomas Mallon's 2007 novel Fellow Travelers. A co-commission by Cincinnati Opera and G. Sterling Zinsmeyer, the opera was developed by Opera Fusion: New Works, a collaboration between Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music which focuses on the creation of new American operas.
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Performance history
Fellow Travelers premiered at Cincinnati Opera in June 2016 in a production directed by Kevin Newbury, which was subsequently presented by the Prototype Festival in New York City in January 2018 and the Lyric Opera of Chicago in March 2018. This production has since been presented by companies such as Des Moines Metro Opera, Virginia Opera, and Arizona Opera. Joseph Lattanzi was the only singer to be part of all of the initial productions listed above, including the original workshop at Cincinnati Opera.
Minnesota Opera presented a new production of Fellow Travelers directed by Peter Rothstein in June 2018. This production has since been presented by companies such as Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Columbus, and Madison Opera.
In June 2024, Opera Parallèle presented the West Coast premiere of Fellow Travelers in San Francisco in a new production directed by Brian Staufenbiel. A 10th anniversary tour through the USA in 2025–2026 featured a new production by director Kevin Newbury and the Up Until Now Collective. It premiered in Pittsburg (in November 2025), continued in Seattle and Portland and will be shown in San Diego and at the Glimmerglass Festival in summer 2026.
The European semi-professional premiere was presented by University College Opera in March 2025.
Synopsis
The opera is set in Washington D.C., during the McCarthy era of the 1950s and focuses on the "Lavender Scare", a witch hunt and mass firings of gay people from the United States government. The story centers on the love affair between two men working for the federal government—Hawkins "Hawk" Fuller, a State Department official, and Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate working in a senator's office.
Critical reception
Fellow Travelers has been widely acclaimed by critics since its premiere in 2016. Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim wrote in The New York Times following its world premiere in Cincinnati, "The opening act is a near-perfect example of fast-flowing musical drama. The budding attraction between Tim and Hawk has all the infectious warmth, humor and sweetness of the early scenes in "La Bohème." . . . With its smart music and sharp-edged romantic drama, "Fellow Travelers" seems assured of lasting appeal. But the large clusters of audience members who stayed behind in the lobby after Sunday's performance discussing and analyzing the show suggest that – at this moment in time, in particular – it offered much more than mere entertainment."
Reviewing the New York premiere, Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times wrote: "Originality in the arts is a vague and overhyped virtue. Few works are completely original. All creative artists borrow from others, both masters they revere and contemporaries they may be in competition with. Still, originality just comes through sometimes, as the composer Gregory Spears demonstrates in his personal, boldly quirky score for the wrenching, and sadly timely, opera Fellow Travelers."
And describing the music of Fellow Travelers, John von Rhein wrote in the Chicago Tribune following the performances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago: "Spears is unusually sensitive to the irregular cadences of American speech, and his setting of words to music is masterly... Fellow Travelers is one of the most accomplished new American operas I have encountered in recent years."
Scenes
Park in DuPont Circle. Tim is sitting on a park bench writing in a notepad. A stranger, Hawk, starts a conversation with him, learning that Tim is an intern reporter, Hawk impresses him with insider's knowledge of D.C. politics. Hawk makes gentle fun of Tim's drinking milk, but gives his shoulder an affectionate squeeze when he leaves.
Potter's Office. Hawk has recommended Tim to Senator Potter. Tim submits a sample of his writing and is hired.
Hawk's Office. Tim is seen buying a book, inscribing it and crossing to Hawk's office where Mary and Miss Lightfoot are gossiping. The book is a thank-you gift for Hawk's recommending him. Mary knows that Hawk "has snagged another one", i.e. another young man whom he hopes to involve in a homosexual relationship.
Tim's Apartment. Hawk drops in as Tim is cooking dinner. Hawk kisses him and together they dream of lying "under the sheets" in Bermuda as partners.
St. Peter's Cathedral. Tim, alone, meditates on the sin he has committed with Hawk.
Christmas Party at the Hotel Washington. Mary understands the gay relationship while Miss Lightfoot is puzzled by Hawk's calling Tim "an Irish Tiger Cub".
Interrogation Room M304. Hawk is given several absurd tests that the Interrogator believes might reveal homosexuality – walking to a wall to detect hip swaying, direct questioning, reading a passage with a lot of "s's" to detect sibilants. Finally he is allowed to go after skillfully passing a lie detector test.
Tim's Apartment. Tim tries to get Hawk interested in a weekend together or at least a date. Hawk reveals that he was called in for questioning because Miss Lightfoot betrayed him by reporting his homosexuality. He knows it was Miss Lightfoot because she quit when he got the summons.
Intermission
Commercial recording
An audio recording of Fellow Travelers was released in 2017 by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's Fanfare Cincinnati record label featuring the original cast from the world premiere, with Mark Gibson conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Music and instrumentation
The opera is scored for a 17-person chamber orchestra. According to the Opera News critic, the score uses minimalist soundscapes combined at times with a "neo-Puccinian lyricism".