Project History
Long, long ago I was asked to compose a short “opera” about the court marshal of
Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the military in 1800s France. The work was to
highlight the court marshal and his subsequent exoneration several years later, little
else.
Mr. “X”, the person that commissioned me also matched me up with a lyricist of his
choice. That particular lyricist simply didn’t work out. At this point I was a bit lost as
to who would be the right person for the project.
I had known George Clayton Johnson (writer of numerous Twilight Zones, Logan’s
Run and much, much more) since my early childhood. The Johnsons lived a few
houses down the street from me. In many ways he was a mentor to me in literature,
science fiction, music and much more.
George had written lyrics to many of my songs throughout my early songwriting
days. Until the time of the commission it had been many years since George and I
had worked together though our friendship continued.
When I asked George if he might be interested in writing the libretto he wanted a bit
of time to think it over. A week later we met and he agreed to collaborate on the
project with some stipulations.
1.It would be a musical rather than an opera.
2. Rather than making Dreyfus the focus of the work it would be primarily about
Emile Zola, as he was the true hero in the story. Dreyfus merely served as the
catalyst for Zola’s actions.
3. We would be co-writers of the “script”. He made it clear I was not to just drop off
some music so he could put words to it as would sometimes happen in the
past.
We then immersed ourselves in all things Zola, his life and disposition, his novels,
the social and political climate of France at the time and most importantly his letter
“J’Accuse”.
We completed ZOLA! (or so we thought) the fall of 1982. When it was turned over to
the group that commissioned us we were told the work was simply too long and
would be too costly and time consuming for production. The work was returned to
us by the commissioning group and set aside by George and me for over 20
years. We met again the summer of 2006. Other than getting reacquainted as
collaborators, little got done. During the next few years we would talk about the
work and ultimately developed the primary basis of the story.
George, at first saw the story revolving around his intense reaction to the Dreyfus
affair and Zola’s wife, Alexandrine’s concern over the consequences any action on
his part might have on their lives.
Gradually, however, the story evolved into a spiritual argument regarding
humankind’s willingness to sacrifice one of their own to serve, what they believe, to
be a greater good. “ZOLA!” then becomes a story about Good and Evil and how
expedient it is to simply throw someone into the mouth of the beast for one’s own
inability to solve a problem or cover one’s lie, as is the case of Dreyfus and the
General Staff.
I flew to L.A. (I no longer lived in CA) the summer of 2011 with both George and I
believing we would complete our work.
Before our meeting I put together a synopsis, a basic outline of the story we had
both agreed upon during our time away from one another since our last meeting.
George would refer to this as our “road map”. It was referred to often during our last
work session.
It was a marathon session, 7 days, nearly 8 hours a day and generous amounts of
coffee and wine. On Day 2 we had the basic structure and the scenes worked out and
already had 90% of the music.
I told George that thus far we have a wonderful musical that tells a well-known
historical event. But I was working with the man who wrote, “Kick the Can”,
“Nothing in the Dark” and “A Game of Pool”.
I told George I wanted to experience the visceral feeling I felt when I watched Kick
the Can, that haunting poignancy which was his trademark. I told him I felt I was
driving a Corvette on the San Diego Freeway and we can’t get out of 2nd gear.
With that, George walked into my brother’s back yard and sat for a while. He came
back with the interlude between Act I Scenes 3 and 4. (See synopsis). That little
scene changed the entire dynamic of our story. Throughout the musical there are
references of man being sacrificed for a greater good as well as man being sacrificed
to hide the ineptitude of others.
After that 2nd day, our work sessions were filled with spirit and energy. We were
like two children having fun with a huge pile of warm soft clay.... we got to do
whatever we wanted to do with it.
The night before our last session I printed our work and paper clipped all into their
acts and scenes. Before picking George up I laid out all the acts and scenes in their
order on a big table.
When we entered our work area, George walked around the table picking up each
tz
little bundle, studying each one in turn. At the end he had all the bundles in his
hand. He was quiet for a moment then threw them onto the table so they sort of
spread and said “done!” We were both very happy.
As I was driving him back home, after a bit of silence, he asked me: “What do you
think the greatest story is?” Before I could respond he said “Death!” I said; “You
think so?”. He told me that was my answer when he’d asked me the same question
when I was about 17 years old.
July 2011 was our last work session.
Until George’s last day we were in constant contact refining our work. Our last time
together was summer of 2014. It was not a work visit. He was having a rough time of
it physically. His breathing was short and raspy. We talked a short bit about our
work and its relation to the “Book of Job” among other things. I was always the one
who pushed that aspect of the work. At this last meeting I told him that maybe I was
wrong about that. He said “No, no. I need to think about it more...” I called him a few
months after I was back home. I told him I didn’t want to talk about ZOLA!. I told
him I just wanted to say, “I love you”. In his exhausted, raspy voice he said “I love
you too Mark”. Those were our last words to one another. George Passed away
Christmas day of 2015.
Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the military in 1800s France. The work was to
highlight the court marshal and his subsequent exoneration several years later, little
else.
Mr. “X”, the person that commissioned me also matched me up with a lyricist of his
choice. That particular lyricist simply didn’t work out. At this point I was a bit lost as
to who would be the right person for the project.
I had known George Clayton Johnson (writer of numerous Twilight Zones, Logan’s
Run and much, much more) since my early childhood. The Johnsons lived a few
houses down the street from me. In many ways he was a mentor to me in literature,
science fiction, music and much more.
George had written lyrics to many of my songs throughout my early songwriting
days. Until the time of the commission it had been many years since George and I
had worked together though our friendship continued.
When I asked George if he might be interested in writing the libretto he wanted a bit
of time to think it over. A week later we met and he agreed to collaborate on the
project with some stipulations.
1.It would be a musical rather than an opera.
2. Rather than making Dreyfus the focus of the work it would be primarily about
Emile Zola, as he was the true hero in the story. Dreyfus merely served as the
catalyst for Zola’s actions.
3. We would be co-writers of the “script”. He made it clear I was not to just drop off
some music so he could put words to it as would sometimes happen in the
past.
We then immersed ourselves in all things Zola, his life and disposition, his novels,
the social and political climate of France at the time and most importantly his letter
“J’Accuse”.
We completed ZOLA! (or so we thought) the fall of 1982. When it was turned over to
the group that commissioned us we were told the work was simply too long and
would be too costly and time consuming for production. The work was returned to
us by the commissioning group and set aside by George and me for over 20
years. We met again the summer of 2006. Other than getting reacquainted as
collaborators, little got done. During the next few years we would talk about the
work and ultimately developed the primary basis of the story.
George, at first saw the story revolving around his intense reaction to the Dreyfus
affair and Zola’s wife, Alexandrine’s concern over the consequences any action on
his part might have on their lives.
Gradually, however, the story evolved into a spiritual argument regarding
humankind’s willingness to sacrifice one of their own to serve, what they believe, to
be a greater good. “ZOLA!” then becomes a story about Good and Evil and how
expedient it is to simply throw someone into the mouth of the beast for one’s own
inability to solve a problem or cover one’s lie, as is the case of Dreyfus and the
General Staff.
I flew to L.A. (I no longer lived in CA) the summer of 2011 with both George and I
believing we would complete our work.
Before our meeting I put together a synopsis, a basic outline of the story we had
both agreed upon during our time away from one another since our last meeting.
George would refer to this as our “road map”. It was referred to often during our last
work session.
It was a marathon session, 7 days, nearly 8 hours a day and generous amounts of
coffee and wine. On Day 2 we had the basic structure and the scenes worked out and
already had 90% of the music.
I told George that thus far we have a wonderful musical that tells a well-known
historical event. But I was working with the man who wrote, “Kick the Can”,
“Nothing in the Dark” and “A Game of Pool”.
I told George I wanted to experience the visceral feeling I felt when I watched Kick
the Can, that haunting poignancy which was his trademark. I told him I felt I was
driving a Corvette on the San Diego Freeway and we can’t get out of 2nd gear.
With that, George walked into my brother’s back yard and sat for a while. He came
back with the interlude between Act I Scenes 3 and 4. (See synopsis). That little
scene changed the entire dynamic of our story. Throughout the musical there are
references of man being sacrificed for a greater good as well as man being sacrificed
to hide the ineptitude of others.
After that 2nd day, our work sessions were filled with spirit and energy. We were
like two children having fun with a huge pile of warm soft clay.... we got to do
whatever we wanted to do with it.
The night before our last session I printed our work and paper clipped all into their
acts and scenes. Before picking George up I laid out all the acts and scenes in their
order on a big table.
When we entered our work area, George walked around the table picking up each
tz
little bundle, studying each one in turn. At the end he had all the bundles in his
hand. He was quiet for a moment then threw them onto the table so they sort of
spread and said “done!” We were both very happy.
As I was driving him back home, after a bit of silence, he asked me: “What do you
think the greatest story is?” Before I could respond he said “Death!” I said; “You
think so?”. He told me that was my answer when he’d asked me the same question
when I was about 17 years old.
July 2011 was our last work session.
Until George’s last day we were in constant contact refining our work. Our last time
together was summer of 2014. It was not a work visit. He was having a rough time of
it physically. His breathing was short and raspy. We talked a short bit about our
work and its relation to the “Book of Job” among other things. I was always the one
who pushed that aspect of the work. At this last meeting I told him that maybe I was
wrong about that. He said “No, no. I need to think about it more...” I called him a few
months after I was back home. I told him I didn’t want to talk about ZOLA!. I told
him I just wanted to say, “I love you”. In his exhausted, raspy voice he said “I love
you too Mark”. Those were our last words to one another. George Passed away
Christmas day of 2015.