Lady Bird (2016)

Project Overview

Project Director: Dr. Samuel Mungo, Assistant Professor, School of Music, Texas State University
Community Partners:  Texas State Opera Theatre, Texas Hill Country Opera and Arts Festival, Rock-Jensen Foundation, and private donations to the Texas State Opera Theatre 
Funding Organization: National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded [Samuel] Mungo to co-commission the World Premiere opera, Lady Bird, on the life and accomplishments of Lady Bird Johnson.  The opera is co-commissioned with the Texas State Opera Theatre, via Texas State University and Texas Hill Country Opera & Arts Festival. 

Texas State Opera Theatre has contracted the illustrious American composer Henry Mollicone and the Pulitzer Prize winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick about an opera featuring this iconic Texan, and they are committed to honoring Lady Bird Johnson’s contribution to America, as the woman who stood witness to the historical magnitude of her husband’s term as President of the United States and rode down bigotry as a daughter of the South.

It is this last experience on which the opera will be focused. In 1964, as LBJ struggled to get the Civil Rights Act passed, many Southern congressmen were balking due to opposition back home. Lady Bird, as a daughter of the South, took it upon herself to board a train and canvass the southern United States, in an attempt to persuade the people to support the historic bill. In the face of people calling her a traitor, catcalling, and death threats, she won the people over as she crisscrossed the country. It is due to her dedication that eight crucial southern congressmen voted for the Bill.

This project [culminated] in the World Premiere performance in the spring of 2016 in the new Patti Strickel Harrison Theater in the Performing Arts Center at Texas State University.

News/Awards/Recognition

Lady Bird, First Lady of the Land has been recognized or awarded the following:

• National Opera Association, 3rd Place, Division V, Opera Production of the Year
• Semi-Finalist, Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music
• Semi-Finalist, American Prize Opera Stage Director of the Year
• In progress: Semi-Finalist, American Prize Opera Production of the Year

Classical Voice America writes: Mollicone-Harnick One-Act Opera Salutes Lady Bird 

UPDATE 01/07/2017: The Lady Bird accolades keep coming in! Great News! Texas State Opera Theatre has just been selected as a finalist in the Opera Performance division of The American Prize national non-profit competitions in the performing arts. Here's the link: http://theamericanprize.blogspot.com. The American Prize will be announcing winners in the division soon. You can learn more about this prestigious national competition here: www.theamericanprize.org or follow the news on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-American-Prize-celebrating-American-excellence-in-the-arts/214320622728 or Twitter: https://twitter.com/americanprize"

Production Information