Gregory Spears’s critically acclaimed opera Fellow Travellers based on Thomas Mallon’s novel about gay love in the notorious McCarthy Era is having its Florida debut thanks to the Florida Grand Opera.  It is set against a background of homophobic paranoia in the 1950s’ where gay men and women were publicly hounded and humiliated in what became known as the Lavender Scare.

Fellow Travelers follows the lives of aspiring young journalist Timothy Laughlin (Andres Acosta) and handsome State Department official Hawkins Fuller (Hadleigh Adams), who are swept into a passionate love affair, just as Senator McCarthy (Michael Pandolfo) begins his hunt for “sexual subversives” in the government. As his involvement deepens, Tim struggles to come to terms with his political convictions, religious beliefs, and his love for Fuller—an entanglement that ends in a stunning act of betrayal.

The music is totally wonderful but the power is in the libretto which strikes at the core of every queer person in the audience. There are accounts and documentaries about this era such as Josh Howard’s The Lavender Scare  that informed us of what went on in these dark days which often ended with people taking their own lives.  Somehow it seems to have a deeper and more emotional resonance hearing it in Spear’s opera.

The NY Times reviewing the original production in  Cincinnati summed it up so perfectly: “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.“

FLORIDA GRAND OPERA

Lauderhill Performing Arts Center
Apr 23, 2022, at 7:30pm
Apr 24, 2022, at 2:00pm
Apr 26 & 28, 2022, at 7:30pm