Richard Nixon, Patty Hearst, and J. Robert Oppenheimer are just three of the historic figures that have been portrayed on the modern opera stage. Next is the most beloved icon of all, John F. Kennedy, in an opera that will premiere in Fort Worth, but is being partly developed by Opera Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns is finding out just what might make JFK sing.
The 35th president of the United States was said to have been tone deaf. But composer David T. Little isn't after realism in his opera, tentatively titled JFK, which premieres in 2016. He's thinking about the last 24 hours John F. Kennedy spent in Fort Worth before moving on, fatefully, to Dallas.