Classical music might not have been the genre of choice in the Maple Leaf home that 22-year-old Jesse Smith grew up in. But when he was just 4 years old, the popularity of the award-winning 1984 movie “Amadeus,” based on the life of Wofgang Amadeus Mozart, exposed Smith to just enough classical music to turn him into a prodigy of his own.
“My mom would always play the ‘Amadeus’ soundtrack in the car,” Smith said. “As a kid I really liked it, the ‘Don Giovanni’ finale.
“I kinda got obsessed with it, and the obsession didn’t really go away.”
Instead of going away, he embraced that obsession and is sharing it with the public as Seattle Musical Theatre’s first original work in its 33-year history, “Don Giovanni: A New Musical,” Smith’s re-envisioned classic tale of love, murder and revenge.
Like the original 1787 opera “Don Giovanni” by Mozart, Smith’s version also takes place in Spain and follows the same storyline, from the romance and the comedy to the supernatural elements and the thrill. But the music … well, let’s just say that Smith first got into making music by creating hip-hop beats and rap, and he’s given the score a bit more contemporary take.
“It’s all original music,” Smith said, “with the exception of the finale, which I interpreted from Mozart’s score.”
To better reflect current times, Smith also transported the set to the economic decline of the 1920s, when people in Spain were “living in excess at a time of decline,” he said.
The theater is collaborating on the piece with Fruition Productions, which is sponsored by Cornish College of the Arts, where Smith formerly was a student.
“It’s an honor, it’s incredible,” he said of seeing his obsession take the stage. “I’ve been dreaming about it my whole life, the fact that I get to do it so early in my life is really thrilling. I’m really blessed.”
“Don Giovanni: A New Musical” begins at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays from Jan. 7-23. Tickets cost $25-$30 for general admission and $20-$25 for students and seniors, and are available online, by calling 206-363-2809 or at the box office at the theater, which is located at the Magnuson Park Community Center Building, 7120 62nd Ave. N.E.
This guy either has a lot of balls or is really stupid or both to, shall I say, dare to create something to stand up next to one of the most immortal pieces of music and drama ever created. Don Giovanni, the opera is the pinnacle of beauty and passion and to even suggest composing something that it would be compared to is just kind of stupid. I wish him luck but this is kind of ludacris