I am the Voice of one crying out in the Wilderness (John the Baptist) Mark Delavan, Bass
“Lazarus, Lazarus,why did Jesus not Come?” – (Martha) ryan Mackenzie, Mezzo Soprano
The Story of I Am the Way
I Am The Way, a “sacred music drama”, began as flashes of inspiration in the fertile ground of logic, trained in engineering, fertilized by curiosity of things spiritual, and watered with passion for performing all genres of vocal art. Jerome Hines had established a thriving career performing every villain, saint and dictator ever penned for basses to sing, by composers from Verdi to Mussorgsky. From each role, and it`s composer, he gleaned inspiration. Once his focus turned to a man unique in the history of the world, it elicited reminiscent melodic structures, dense orchestration that underpinned the gravitas of the subject matter, and full dramatic voices necessary to perform it. Mr. Hines sang the role of the Christ in more than 100 performances, until 1997, at age 75.
IT began AS An Experiment
The idea for an opera on the life of Jesus Christ came to Hines years earlier in 1950, when a pair of impresarios, who presented an annual Passion Play in Los Angeles, asked him if he knew of a composer who might write incidental music to the finale of their theater piece, to create renewed enthusiasm among attendees. Hines thought immediately of his friend Albert Hay Malotte, an American composer whose setting of The Lord’s Prayer is a beloved staple of that country`s sacred music. Malotte wasn’t interested in writing the finale, or Hines suggestion to compose his own musical Passion Play.
Live Performance 1987- The Christ- Jerome Hines, 65 years young,
Lazarus played by Derek de Cambra, Artistic Director since 1958
Nonetheless, the concept of a sacred musical drama on the life of Christ intrigued the amateur composer in Hines to the point that between engagements and the demands of a family that came later on, he began to plot out textually and musically how he might treat a subject so vast and important. Hines’ approach placed an unusual focus on philosophical nuances of evil vs. good in the human condition, as opposed to routine handling of the miracles or parables common in Hollywood films produced during the height of tent evangelists in his native land. In fact, he included only two of 37 miracles recorded in the Bible, Lazarus`resurrection and that of Jairus’ daughter. The iconic events of Christ’s birth and Resurrection were not included to allow focus on the actual relationships between the human beings in the New Testament gospels and this extraordinary man who taught, and did things heretofore unheard of. Much of the libretto was lifted directly from the King James Version, with a more Shakespearean parlance for the rest of the dialogue to match. In all, approximately ten core scenes became the version most often performed for more than forty years In the US and abroad, including the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
Research has established that Hines ended up creating the only opera ever written solely about the adult ministry of Jesus Christ, his disciples and other key figures in Scripture in 400 years of the genre. I Am The Way excludes the iconic events in the stable and on the cross. It is doubtful in pre-internet times that he knew of Anton Rubinstein’s 1894 Christus, which the Russian composer called a “sacred opera” that included the birth, and trial, crucifixion, and an epilogue of St. Paul. Rubinstein conducted a few performances in Germany before his great grandson did one short revival and recording in 2003. Oddly, only Richard Wagner had considered making Jesus the center of an opera, but he demurred and wrote Parsifal instead.
The opera was presented as his personal testimony of faith, not an operatic world premiere, in a private non-theatrical location. The premiere of I Am the Way took place at New York City’s Salvation Army Centennial Memorial Temple on March 30, 1956 and featured three acts of two scenes each. Thankfully, a commercial recording of excerpts was made in 1997 through the efforts of Global Praise Ministries and Steven Kimbrough, a vocal artist and colleague who brought his gifts as a producer to the project and helped ensure the preservation of a unique American opera. Most notably, by his own account, in the process of its composition, Hines`spiritual life shifted from nominal religious observance to a deep personal “Credo” of his life in Jesus Christ.
