Streamed Live

1/31/2009
8:00 PM EST

Watch it here for free


A New Jazz Opera by Dan Plonsey & Harvey Pekar

Your online contribution helps fund the production and streaming of Leave Me Alone!

Three priceless items are available in appreciation of your support.

  • Download a ringtone of Harvey Pekar phoning comics artist Robert Crumb: "Hey Bob, it's Harvey!" ($5)

  • Download a 1-page (six frame) "Opera Preview" comic strip Harvey Pekar has written especially for Leave Me Alone!, illustrated by Joseph Remnant. ($5)

  • Order a limited edition (300) print of the Pekar/Remnant "Opera Preview" comic, signed by both artists, numbered, on acid-free paper. ($300, tax deductible)

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About the Opera

LEAVE ME ALONE! is a new jazz opera with music by Dan Plonsey on a libretto by Harvey Pekar, to be performed at 8pm on January 31st, 2009 in Finney Chapel, Oberlin College, OH, and streamed live to an international online audience.

The story of the opera revolves around conversations between the composer and librettist held from their respective living rooms in the Bay Area and Cleveland. Dan and Harvey, the two primary interlocutors, played by themselves, engage in discussions about music, the life of the artist as householder, finding time to work, the current state of the avant garde, and the opera itself.

Further characters include their wives, Mantra Ben-ya'akova Plonsey and Joyce Brabner (also played by themselves), and Musical Director Josh Smith. Telephone appearance by Robert Crumb in conversation with the artists provides additional perspectives on the opera's themes. An ensemble of 6 musicians comprises the orchestra accompanying four singers who variously double the protagonists.

Both Plonsey and Pekar are deeply committed to the notion that art transgresses and transcends distinctions of class and hence ought to be populist in nature, available to all.

Please help us realize this vision by watching the opera here for free at 8 PM on January 31, 2009.

Click here for directions to Finney Chapel.

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