Nathan

Granner

Normally this scene from Rossini's 1816 opera "Otello" is two guys (Otello and Rodrigo) arguing over the love of Desdemona, but in this scene, the two man are seated in a hospital room, waiting to get their vaccine administered. They bicker about their own macho ways, but when it comes time to get the vaccine shot, both at first, chicken out. All’s well that ends well, however, when the two finally take their medicine ... and sing really great high notes.

About the Production: As we look to the road to recovery during this pandemic, one known obstacle is building vaccine trust. Many communities distrust the medical community and we wanted to create a project that reflected the honest and genuine concerns of communities but that ultimately illustrates the trust in science and our medical communities required to achieve large scale immunity that allows us to put this pandemic behind us.

It's an animated graphic novel turned into a film. In this complex process, hand drawn illustrations by Mark Simmons are digitized and animated by artist David Murakami using a fusion of the illustrations and motion capture video of the artists' performances. Joby Talbot, the composer, realized the musical score in his own studio, recording the instruments using midi and live sound. The vocals were recorded at Skylight Sound in Oakland, CA.

All put together, Heidi Waleson of The Wall Street Journal reports:

-This ingenious production's vocal characterizations are distinctive: Nathan Granner’s poignant tenor expresses Rob’s adventurous spirit, his sense of responsibility for his clients—rather than leaving the ailing Doug behind, he drags him along and finally dies beside him—and his love for Jan. -