Land of Gold

♪♪ -Go 14.

-♪ There is no land upon the Earth... ♪ -Next on "Great Performances"... [ Radio chatter ] Go behind the scenes at the San Francisco Opera for the premiere production of "Girls of the Golden West."

-We have a myth of the Gold Rush.

In fact, the history, it's full of both nobility and terrible depravity.

-An insider's journey with the creative team led by composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars.

-I would love to just get this sunrise over your head, like... -In rehearsal with their stellar cast.

-♪ Sweetly, sweetly, sweetly ♪ -Featuring mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges... -♪ Sweetly ♪ -...and soprano Julia Bullock.

-♪ I lounge forlornly to the window ♪ -Join the creators as they wrestle an ambitious work onto the stage that shines a light on the dark past of the 1850s California Gold Rush, the making of a pioneering new opera told with humor and gravity through word, song, and dance.

"Land of Gold" is next.

♪♪ Major funding for "Great Performances" is provided by... ...and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

[ Orchestral music playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Wind blowing ] ♪♪ -Dear Molly, it is the 21st day of November, 1851, and for the last three weeks, it has rained and snowed for the express purpose, it has seemed, of aggravating our misery.

Sometimes I lounge forlornly to the window and try to take a bird's-eye view of outdoors.

In many places in the mountains, the snow is already five feet in depth.

We shall leave tomorrow, for it would be madness to linger any longer.

♪ Sometimes, I lounge forlornly to the window ♪ -Lines 202 through 204.

-♪ And try to take a bird's-eye view of outdoors ♪ ♪ First a large pile of gravel ♪ -Five-minute warning on the end of the opera and bows.

Five-minute warning on the end of the opera and bows.

Places please for the bows.

-So blackout, get you closer, lights up, send supers, send chorus, the whole grand... [ Clicks tongue ] -♪ Its fathomless splendor ♪ ♪ Its fathomless splendor ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -Oh, my God, that was thrilling, thrilling night.

[ Indistinct conversations ] [ Camera shutter clicks ] [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ -A month or so before I came out here, I had a dream about California, and in that dream was a very verdant and welcoming place, sort of an Eden.

When I got out here, I started going to the Sierra and then eventually bought a cabin up there.

I was immensely affected by those 100-foot firs and the air.

So when the idea of doing an opera about the Gold Rush came up, all of my circuits started humming.

-♪ There is no land upon the earth ♪ ♪ Contains the same amount of worth ♪ ♪ There is no land upon the earth ♪ ♪ Contains the same amount of worth ♪ ♪ We've got more gold than all the world ♪ ♪ A flag that flies where'er unfurled ♪ ♪♪ ♪ And smarter men ♪ ♪ From England, France and Mexico ♪ ♪ To one and all, both young and old ♪ ♪ You're welcome to the land of gold!

♪ [ Laughter ] -Whoo!

-We have a myth of the Gold Rush and its gritty, John Ford type people up against the harshness of nature.

In fact, the history -- it's full of both nobility and terrible depravity.

♪♪ We live in a time now where there's interest in the people who, as we say, were written out of history.

In the case of the Gold Rush, the Native Americans, Mexicans, Chileans.

There were actually freed slaves.

And the women -- There weren't many women out here during the Gold Rush, but those that were here were pretty extraordinary people.

This is -- This is the most wonderful book.

Peter discovered these letters that were written by Louise Clapp.

[ Chuckling ] "I am the only petticoated astonishment on this bar."

This woman from Massachusetts who spent 18 months in a very, very crude mining encampment called Rich Bar.

Louise Clapp, who wrote letters from a filthy, crude camp in the Sierras, is having her words sung by Julia Bullock.

-♪ Onions and potatoes ♪ [ Humming ] ♪ Potatoes ♪ ♪ On... ♪ Ooh.

That's different.

Even though Louise Clapp came out of this Victorian era with all of the communities that she was encountering and all the environments that she was encountering, it was with a complete openness and sort of wonderment.

♪ Dinner was truly excellent ♪ ♪ E-- Truly e-- ♪ ♪ Truly e-- Truly excellent ♪ -[ Sings indistinctly ] Oh.

Okay.

Cool.

-[ Hums ] And then this octave placement.

-Yes.

[ Playing notes ] ♪ We wondered what ♪ -♪ We wondered what ♪ [ Laughter ] -Let's go from four before T6.

[ Piano playing ] -♪ Ahhhhh ♪ -Most of the characters in the opera are real people, the historical people.

Josefa Segovia -- This young Mexican woman defended herself against a miner who was harassing her, stabbed him, killed him, and the next day was lynched off a bridge over the Yuba River on Independence Day, ironically.

-♪ Abre esta jaula porque quiero escapar ♪ I don't remember learning that in school.

She's kind of unwritten in history.

Not kind of.

She is.

♪♪ -So what I should be doing this morning is making a list for David and a list for Rita.

-Toasts and songs and speeches.

I believe the company danced all night.

I think it's three, two and then two, three.

-It is.

-Yeah.

-[ Humming ] -Yeah, yeah.

[ Speaks indistinctly ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Phone ringing ] -Peter.

-David, I can't believe you're picking up.

That is so beautiful.

-[ Laughing ] How are you?

-I'm in the best possible mood.

I'm at the San Francisco Opera.

-Okay.

You have your principals.

-We have our principals.

And I used to have my principles.

[ Laughing ] The interesting thing is to decide how close to Budweiser and how close to the period bottles and all that stuff.

-Mm-hmm.

-The chorus in the big saloon scene, instead of giving them all period shot glasses, should I just give them all red plastic cups?

-Right.

Great.

♪♪ -♪ In this world ♪ ♪ La la, world ♪ Oh, my gosh.

Someday I will sing this with gusto and confidence.

It's not today.

-Well, I have one further, deeply appalling idea.

And I just want to mention it to you, whisper it to you before you get on the flight.

-[ Chuckles ] -You know these incredible 19th-century photographs.

-Right.

-What if we project those photographs on the wrinkled gold?

-Beautiful.

Yeah.

-The ghosts could be in the forest and could haunt that -- that wrinkled gold backdrop.

-Yeah.

Ghosts in the forest.

Great.

-Part of opera is a conversation with the dead that needs to take place.

Because unless someone talks to them, we're all in trouble.

-Right.

-It requires singing.

It requires dancing.

It has to be done at night.

The other side of it is the only people in this room are the living people.

And so what's next for the living... is the other question that the dead are asking us.

Your ability to live with your past is a very important question of how you can live with your future.

-Alright.

I better get out there fast.

-Yeah.

Come on out.

We will enjoy ourselves.

-Dear Molly, upon arriving at Rich Bar, two men turned over a large stone beneath which they found quite a sizable piece of gold.

A little more than a week after its discovery, 500 men had settled upon the Bar for summer.

-Most of these people were in this sort of hectic rush to get rich.

And for the first year or so, when you literally could go into a stream bed and just bend over and find a gold nugget, It was Fat City for a lot of people.

♪♪ -♪ California herself ♪ ♪ Might be called the hotel state ♪ ♪ So completely is she inundated ♪ ♪ With taverns, boarding houses ♪ ♪ Monte parlors, and the Two Rivers Saloon ♪ ♪ The Empire is the only two-story building ♪ ♪ In Rich Bar ♪ -The first act, it's quite upbeat.

-Good, good, good.

So you don't have to turn for that.

-Oh, fine.

-The men turn.

-Thank God.

-Alright?

So let's set that up one more time, everybody.

-It's permeated by Dame Shirley's sense of humor, her description of this rickety structure that they call the Empire Hotel.

-♪ And elegant mirrors set off by decanters -- ♪ Love, you have to count.

♪ Vases ♪ ♪ And jars of branded fruit ♪ -Okay, good, good, good.

The whole which is a dazzling splendor.

What the...?

That's amazing.

And then the second "dazzling splendor" just come forward.

"That's dazzling."

Okay, let's try this theater magic.

-And elegant.

-♪ Elegant ♪ -Set off.

-♪ Set off by rows of decanters ♪ ♪ A score of vases ♪ ♪ And jars of brandied fruit ♪ -Brandied fruit!

Whoa!

-♪ The whole... ♪ We opened the entire first half, feeding into everyone's preconceived ideas about what the Wild West was like.

♪ Splendor ♪ -Great.

Okay.

Great.

Great.

-And then to obliterate that in the second half, I just thought it was... awesome.

♪ The Empire ♪ ♪ The Empire ♪ As Americans, we love looking at our history that way.

We love sugarcoating it or finding the romance in it.

And then you get down to the people who were there, it's like all of the horror is right next to the majestic excitement.

♪♪ -Because you're alone in the mountains or with a handful of people late at night around a fire, you start making up a song.

-♪ My name, it is Joe Bowers ♪ ♪ I got a brother Ike ♪ ♪ I'm just here from Missouri, and all the way from Pike ♪ -Joe, we found as a character in one of the mining songs.

He's called Joe Bowers and that, but we changed his name to Joe Cannon.

-Joe Cannon is the name of the guy who actually was killed by Josefa in Downieville.

So Joe Bowers became Joe Cannon.

-♪ She says to me, "Joe Bowers ♪ ♪ Before we've hitched for life ♪ ♪ You ought to get out" ♪ -Well, the thrill was just finding that song and realizing we had the through line of the whole night.

And there it was in one song.

My name is Joe.

-♪ I'll go to California and try to raise a stake ♪ -What I did was to take the text and then set it to my own music, which was really fun, I got to say.

-♪ My name is Joe ♪ ♪ My name is Joe Cannon ♪ ♪ I got a brother named Ike ♪ ♪ I come from old Missouri ♪ ♪ Yes, all the way from Pike ♪ -He tells about how he came all the way from Missouri, from Pike, and he has a brother named Ike.

-♪ I used to love that girl of mine ♪ ♪ They called her Sally Black ♪ -Sally that he fell in love with said that she'd marry him, but first he had to go and make some money.

-♪ Say I ♪ -♪ Say I ♪ -♪ To her ♪ -♪ To her ♪ -♪ Here, Sally ♪ -♪ Say I to her ♪ -♪ Oh, Sally, for your sake ♪ -♪ Oh, Sally ♪ -♪ I'll go to Californy and try to raise a stake ♪ -And then to us, guys!

-♪ But one day he got a letter ♪ ♪ From his dear kind brother Ike ♪ ♪ It came from old Missoura ♪ -Everyone, forward.

-He gets a Dear John letter from Sally who says she's fallen in love with the butcher and she's had a baby.

And the baby looks like the butcher.

-♪ Sally had a baby and the baby had red hair ♪ -Back!

-♪ Had red hair ♪ -And we watch him dig himself in deeper and watch the system around him only kind of feed his worst impulses.

-Before long, Joe and Josefa will cross paths.

-Angry, angry.

Everybody getting angry.

♪♪ [ All singing indistinctly ] ♪♪ -Sorry.

Sorry, sir.

One second, one second.

Great, great, great, great.

Now, this little moment is the anger-building moment.

That interlude is just total rage.

And just build the rage, build the rage, build the rage, build the rage.

"I got here, I got to here."

And so that "I got" can start on a super, super intense note.

-♪ When I got to here ♪ -♪ When I got to here ♪ -♪ In this here country ♪ -♪ When I got here ♪ [ Singing indistinctly ] ♪ I wish myself most dead ♪ -The only people who actually went out to the Wild West were extreme personalities, like, who has the gall to just abandon what is known and take a risk that big?

♪♪ -Word got out in 1849 about gold, and, of course, people came to California from Egypt and from India and from Brazil and from Australia and from China and from everywhere.

Nobody knows what's gonna happen because there are no historical precedents for what happened in California in 1851.

This was the first time anywhere in the world all these people gathered together.

-Dear Molly, the golden magnet has drawn its victims -- wanderers from the whole broad earth, from those Isles of the Pacific, from the Indies, from the grand old woods of classic Greece, from breezy backwoods of young America, and from the tropical languor of the Asian savannah.

They gather here upon this river.

-♪ Well, the Camptown ladies sing this song ♪ ♪ Doodah, doodah ♪ ♪ Ah, the Camptown race track's five miles long ♪ ♪ Oh, doo-dah day ♪ ♪ I come down here ♪ -You really see what happens to human beings when they're just left to their own devices, and when there's no larger measurement other than your pure self-interest.

-♪ I'll bet my money on the bobtail nag ♪ ♪ Somebody bet on the bay ♪ -♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ -♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪ I'm bound to play all night ♪ ♪ I'm bound to play all day ♪ ♪ I'm bound to play all night ♪ ♪ I'm bound to play all -- ♪ [ Singing indistinctly ] ♪♪ -And back in.

-[ Singing indistinctly ] ♪♪ ♪ I played all night and cleaned them out ♪ ♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪ I'm bound to play all night ♪ -To us!

-♪ I'm bound to play all day ♪ -Great.

Okay, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good.

"I wanna know.

I hate this, I hate this.

Driving me crazy, driving me crazy.

I love it."

Let's start.

-One, two.

-♪ I'm bound to play all night ♪ ♪ I'm bound to play all day ♪ ♪ I bet my money on the ace and king ♪ [ Singing indistinctly ] -♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ -♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ -These are the men that will do such terrible things in act two.

-♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪ I'm bound to play all night ♪ -Thank you.

-♪ I'm bound to... ♪ ♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Barkeeper, give me a glass of porter ♪ ♪ Gin for me, and a glass of water ♪ ♪ I bet my money on the ace and king ♪ ♪ Who dare bet on a dream?

♪ ♪ Da Du Da Du Da Du Da Du ♪ ♪ Da Du Da Du Da Du Da ♪ ♪ Da Du Da Du Da Du Da Du ♪ ♪ Da Du Da Du Da Du Da Du Da Du ♪ -That note you were asking about, um... ♪ La dee da ♪ No, it's in 5-6/4.

I don't think that's -- I don't think that's right, 5-6, but I'll check it.

Um, it's a -- Yeah.

You know, you've got that B-flat down to A.

♪ Uh, ah ♪ I think I'll fix that.

♪♪ -♪ Josefa, you remember that hot afternoon ♪ -Josefa's husband is Ramon, and they are the barkeepers of the village bar.

♪ And the muffled boom ♪ ♪ Of a distant summer storm ♪ -Fabulous.

-♪ I've traveled ♪ -♪ Mountains ♪ [ Laughter ] -♪ All over ♪ ♪ And down to the valleys I'll go ♪ ♪ Now to the valleys I'll go ♪ ♪ And live like a pig in clover ♪ ♪ Live in clover inside... ♪ Having to die, that makes no difference to me in terms of my preparation.

Honestly, I kind of welcome it.

'Cause Joe doesn't know he's going to die either.

So, if anything, I try not to think about it.

- ♪ Estaba en tu jaula la que me diste ♪ ♪ Digo pequeñito ♪ ♪ Porque no me entiendes ♪ I've personally never killed anyone in opera.

This is the first time that I've done that before -- I've been killed.

So it's a different dynamic for sure.

-Can we do that one more time from the top?

That's great.

♪♪ -♪ I've traveled the mountains all over ♪ -Josefa makes a living from the miners coming in and drinking.

Joe Cannon comes straggling in, pestering her.

-♪ I live like a pig in clover ♪ -Her first line is, "Hombre pequeñito," and she's like, "Little man, leave me alone."

♪ Hombre pequeñito, hombre pequeñito ♪ ♪ Hombre pequeñito ♪ ♪ Canario ♪ -Great.

That's good.

-Great, great, great.

Okay, good, good, good.

-You are way too good at that.

-[ Laughs ] -After the second hombre pequeñito, make it a little quick.

Aah!

Scared you, right?

"Hombre pequeñito, hombre pequeñito."

Pshoo!

And then go.

And then you're here for your next cue is on them.

-Yeah.

-And you just say, "Keep your hands off of me, little man."

-My favorite part.

-30 minutes, please, before we begin this evening's rehearsal of "Girls of the Golden West."

-Okay.

[ Humming a scale ] -Chorus and supers, please be sure to check the boards for Post-it notes.

The call is half hour.

Thank you.

-Time to transform into my full Mexican self.

I'm clearly not a Mexican woman, but I can relate, as a woman of color, as a Black woman, to the prejudices that were put upon Josefa.

Obviously it's a different time, but I know what that feels like in my own experience.

♪ Hombre pequeñito ♪ -Call is 15 minutes to places.

-Gracias.

-All set.

♪♪ -♪ I've traveled the mountains all over ♪ ♪ I've traveled the mountains all over ♪ ♪ And down to the valleys I'll go ♪ ♪ Down to the valleys I'll go ♪ ♪ And live like a pig in clover ♪ ♪ Live in clover ♪ ♪ Inside of huge mounds of snow ♪ -♪ Hombre pequeño ♪ -Joe has a certain feeling of he can do anything he wants.

When you're a big guy, when you're -- when you're -- when you're the star, you can do whatever you want.

♪♪ -♪ I'll marry a rich senorita ♪ ♪ And live on a ranch in the West ♪ -Joe Cannon is kind of this loosey goosey, White racist.

-♪ Put to the test ♪ -Hombre pequeño ♪ Paul Appleby is an amazing colleague.

The first day in rehearsal, it was like he had embodied the role for months already.

It made him so believable that it was sometimes just really like, "Ugh."

-♪ When I run short of a dollar ♪ ♪ And when I run short of a dollar ♪ ♪ And when I run short of a dollar ♪ ♪ I'll try to obtain a divorce ♪ -♪ Hombre pequeño ♪ -Joe is not encumbered by social forces that are definitely present for other characters.

He's at ease with himself, which is exactly the problem.

♪♪ -Both tragedy and comedy are about difficult people.

They're difficult, strange, myopic people who are thinking about themselves around the clock and can't necessarily get that much farther than that circumference.

The strangeness and difficulty of those people is the source of the comedy and is the source of the tragedy.

-Dear Molly, the people here wish to have the fun of ruling themselves.

Miners are fond of playing at lawmaking and playing at Providence.

The class of men who rule society in the mines are gamblers for the most part, reckless, bad men.

Although no doubt there are many among them whose only vice is the fatal love of play.

They passed a set of resolutions to the effect that no foreigner shall work in the mines upon the bar.

I'm going to let Julia kind of ride -- Ooh, sorry.

I should have told you I was going to do that.

-Oh, it's fine.

-You know, without wishing to be a party pooper, I just want to get all the hardcore stuff with the singing... -Great.

-...put together, because this thing, we have months to enjoy this.

-We have one month.

[ Laughter ] That is something to actually rehearse, is all I'm trying to say.

That's a big...deal.

And I'd like to just do what we've done.

-It's not exactly an opera, and it's not exactly a musical.

♪♪ -Bum, bum.

Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.

Bum, bum.

-[ Laughs ] -I grew up watching my mother sing in local Concord, New Hampshire productions of "South Pacific" and "Oklahoma."

I think, when I came to writing "Girls of the Golden West," I skipped over John Cage and skipped over Stockhausen, went all the way back to when I was eight years old.

♪♪ -A lot of normal opera is in a meter where you can feel the regular beat often.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 ♪ Right?

Now, I don't know if I could do a John Adams impression of Happy Birthday, but, you know, it's like... ♪ Happy birthday...to you ♪ ♪ Happ-y birth-day to you ♪ Like... And, so, it starts out in 3/4.

And then you have a 2/4 measure and 3/8.

But even within that measure, where there's like two beats instead of three beats in that measure, he might ask you to put five beats evenly spaced over those two beats and have a one beat rest in the middle of that to make a point with the text or something.

Eventually it starts to make sense.

When you first look at it, it can be quite daunting.

[ Indistinct conversation ] -On the very first 4th of July when California became a state, Lola Montez performed her very famous spider dance.

-When I first was told, "You're going to be Lola Montez," I was like, "Oh, it's this Latin girl, right up my alley."

And then, I was like, she's not Latin at all.

She's Irish.

How did she come up with his name?

She was a pretty smart, innovative, creative character.

-She traveled around the world doing a combination of theater and dance, having liaisons with all kinds of famous people.

-Lola Montez became the lover of Ludwig of Bavaria, then had to get out of town after the 1848 revolution, and she fled to America and arrived here for the Gold Rush.

-If she'd lived in the 1960s, she would have been part of Andy Warhol's Factory.

-That is a woman that is one of the women of the Golden West who took full advantage of the situation and actually didn't seem victimized by one second of it.

-2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14.

-And then 14.

-And it's like this -- ♪ One, da, two, da, three, da, four, da, five ♪ Et cetera.

And it keeps that same meter.

So ladies we're only going to change that last 11 to a 13.

9, 14.

It's really a 13.

-13.

-Quick three for nothing.

-Oh, my God.

-I'll be here.

-All these equations.

Yeah.

-And if the wind is blowing at 40 miles an hour, what kind of pie am I baking?

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Diddly-ya.

-Yes.

Yeah.

-Second bar of M3.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Ah.

-Okay, so it's really three accents before the clarinet.

-Actually, yeah.

-And, and.

-Actually, the next one is on the downbeat.

Five.

-Because it's, um... One, two, three, four, one, and.

-I thought that's where you were starting.

-Five and six.

-And.

So and seven.

And three five and seven.

-Two and three and out four.

Five and.

♪♪ -Cool.

How's it going?

-Okay.

-Good.

-Okay.

Okay, great.

-No sweat.

-I know that this was difficult for the dancers, but I've also had a lot of experience with choreographers and dancers doing my music.

And I know that dancers actually understand the structure of the music better than any other performers.

-[ Vocalizing ] -Because they have to internalize the actual musical form.

-[ Vocalizing ] ♪♪ -♪ Bom!

Bom, bom!

♪ -That is so nice.

It's really beautiful.

-Now, just in front of where they are, you can see there's a giant dark spot.

Okay, fine.

Let's go to the next cue.

Okay, print this.

[ Indistinct conversations ] ♪♪ [ Woman singing operatically ] ♪♪ -Okay, so this is going to be Dame Shirley meets the Indian women.

Okay.

And then the tax collector... -Whose body is in the box?

-...who's body in the box.

And we don't have a box, we didn't actually make a coffin.

A just simple box for a pine coffin for a sad Chilean?

No, a tax collector.

No, it's a White guy.

Sorry.

Then we'll hunt down the Patagonian devil.

Give him a fair jury trial and then rope him up with all the majesty of the law.

That's from another scene.

-It's tree number three, which maybe Becky can show you which one that is.

-Okay, that's position 22.

-Kimberly, one of the doors is going to open on one of these trees.

Would you walk through it?

-Prop one.

-♪ Tú me quieres alba ♪ -Yeah.

Alba.

♪ Alba ♪ -Yeah.

-♪ De perfume tenue corola cerrada ♪ -Yes.

♪ Da da ♪ Keep that up.

-♪ Da da ♪ -Yeah, yeah.

-♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -Don't have too much space, though.

-Yeah.

♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -♪ Sobre to-- Sobre todas ♪ -♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ ♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -Yes.

♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-♪ Todas casta ♪ -Right?

Yes.

-I'm going... ♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -Exactly, exactly.

That's -- That's tilting in the wrong direction.

-♪ Tilting in the wrong direction ♪ -Yeah.

That's right.

-♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -Very colorful, very close up.

-Yes.

That's right.

It sounds -- Exactly.

But this -- -Piddle.

Yeah.

-Piddle?

-Piddle.

-♪ Ni un rayo de la luna ♪ ♪ Filtrado me aya ♪ -♪ Luna, rayo ♪ -♪ Luna, me aya ♪ -Me aya.

-Me aya.

♪ Me ay-- ♪ -Yes.

-♪ Me aya ♪ -Yes.

-♪ You would have me immaculate ♪ -Yes.

-♪ You would have me made of pearl ♪ -Yes.

-It's a lot of work, actually.

-Go on, go on.

-Down here?

-Hmm.

-Oh, are they tuning?

-Yeah.

-Sorry.

Do we need to go back up there?

-Thank you.

Oh, my gosh.

Thank you, thank you.

♪♪ -August 4th.

Dear Molly, I wish I could give you some faint idea of the majestic solitudes through which we passed, where the pine trees rise so grandly in their awful height that they seem to be looking into heaven itself.

♪♪ -In 1849, a group of gold seekers found what they thought was the largest tree in the world, a 1,000-year-old giant sequoia, and a couple of years later, some gold speculators cut the tree down.

I think people really felt that you could cut down a huge virgin redwood or you could put silt in the Sacramento River for mining and these things wouldn't have permanent effect.

You know, in 1850, that was the period of Manifest Destiny.

People really felt that the world, the wilderness was inexhaustible.

-♪ It's four long years since I reached this land ♪ ♪ In search of gold among the rocks and sand ♪ ♪ And yet I'm poor when the truth is told ♪ ♪ I'm a lousy miner in search of shining gold ♪ ♪ I've lived on swine till I grunt and squeal ♪ ♪ No one can tell how my bowels feel ♪ ♪ With slapjacks swimming 'round in bacon grease ♪ ♪ I'm a lousy miner, when will my troubles cease ♪ ♪ I was covered with lice coming on the boat ♪ ♪ I threw away my fancy swallow-tailed coat ♪ -Good, good, good.

-And stop.

Great work, everybody.

15 minutes, please.

15-minute break, please.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Yeah.

Cool.

You alright?

-I'm afraid of heights.

That's my one fear.

I don't consider anything -- Bungee jumping, like, skydiving, none of that is exciting to me, none of it.

I-I can't just go with my normal instinct 'cause I'm... -Well, just do it exactly where you feel safest.

-Mm-hmm.

-Just to kind of get used to what it's like up here.

-You have to look free and furious and, like, fearless.

And at the same time, you know, inside of you, you're kind of, like, just calculating every inch.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Cool.

Hey, Lorena.

-Sorry.

-Just take a breath.

[ Breathes deeply ] -[ Breathes deeply ] -And we go ba ba ba ba ba ba.

I know it's a lot.

-[ Screams ] -Yes.

-That's when it comes.

[ Laughter ] I'm kidding.

It's just a brainstorm.

-Yes.

Bow.

Yep.

Nice.

Yeah.

Exactly, exactly, exactly.

Yep.

Yep.

Sweet.

♪♪ -The spider dance is the transition point to the lethal part of the opera.

The spider dance takes us from entertainment into a place of unrelenting violence.

♪♪ -Dear Molly, I love this wild and barbarous life, seeing the elephant grubbing for gold.

We stopped at the top of the hill and set fire to some fir trees.

Oh, how splendidly they looked, the flames leaping and curling through the deep green foliage.

The shriek which the fire gave as it sprang upon its prey made me think of the hiss of a furious reptile about to wrap in its burning folds a hapless victim.

-For the first year or so, you literally could just bend over and find a gold nugget.

And then suddenly the gold became very hard to find.

And that's when bad behavior started.

People start arguing about their claims.

They start getting drunk and stealing from each other.

And the next thing you know, we're all blaming people who don't look like us.

-♪ Tú me quieres alba ♪ ♪ Tú me quieres de espumas ♪ ♪ Tú me quieres de nácar ♪ ♪ Que sea azucena ♪ -Okay, good.

Chorus, what she's singing is, "Excuse me.

You're walking skeletons.

And you gave up being human a long time ago."

She says, "Go heal yourselves."

She sings this aria to say, "Try living."

And so she offers you the resurrection instead of death.

-Everyone was fighting to survive at the expense of women, people of color, and each other, actually.

It was a very cruel, cruel time.

♪♪ ♪ You would have me immaculate ♪ ♪ You would have me made of pearl ♪ -I've set to music some harrowing events.

-♪ My perfume subdued, corolla enclosed ♪ -I set to music the crucifixion, the detonation of the world's first atomic bombs, a terrorist murder.

-♪ And the way your flesh has returned to its bones ♪ ♪ And you've given it back the soul you left ♪ -I'm not unfamiliar with finding musical expression for these very disturbing human events.

-♪ Expect me ♪ ♪ To be snow white ♪ ♪ Expect me ♪ ♪ To be chaste ♪ -But the fact that I knew that this was a true story, the fact that it was a young Mexican woman being tried by a group of drunk White men, men that looked like me... [ Indistinct singing ] ...and the fact that I was doing it at a time when this country was experiencing this horrible political fissure... [ Indistinct singing ] ...that made it quite a draining experience.

♪♪ The scene where Ramon describes the tax collector coming around and harassing the Mexican and Chilean gold miners comes from the diary of Gil Ramon Novarro.

-♪ Sinks his dagger to the hilt ♪ ♪ Through the ribs of the senior tax collector ♪ -When gold started to become scarce, the white "Americans," as they were called, used taxation, they used legislation, they used mob violence to intimidate and chase any competition away.

-Oh, oh, oh, just -- just stay the same.

Yeah.

Dum-dum dee-dum dee bom-bee-bom bom.

-Elliot, come right in, "He came here from Bolivia Camp."

-♪ To demand the twenty dollars ♪ ♪ They levied on us foreigners ♪ ♪ The tax we pay ♪ ♪ Just for the privilege of being here ♪ -Great.

Okay.

-What this tax collector was doing was going around to every single foreigner and saying, "You owe $20 just for the simple fact that you are a foreigner."

♪ This stupid tax collector ♪ ♪ Takes out his six-shooter ♪ -Yeah, bring it up a little bit.

-♪ The Chilean, much quicker ♪ -No, no.

Good, good.

Elliot, when you're singing about the Chilean, never look down.

-Yeah.

-When you're singing about the stupid tax collector, you're always looking down.

-Gotcha.

-Right?

Chilean is like, the guy couldn't eat.

The guy has said, "I can't -- I have nothing to eat."

-Mm-hmm.

-Make that... -The tax collector specifically targeted a tall Chilean man.

And the Chilean had said, "I don't have a job.

I don't have any money.

I can't pay you."

And the tax collector pulled out his gun.

But what the tax collector didn't realize was this -- this was a very fast Chilean.

And before Bill Holiday could do anything, he got stabbed six times.

-"Hello, Mr. Stupid.

How are you feeling?

Right?

You're feeling the way stupid people feel, which is dead."

-Yeah.

[ Laughter ] -One's sympathy goes to the underdog, who would be the Chilean.

But a white man is dead and in a coffin.

-♪ The Chilean, much quicker ♪ ♪ Sinks his dagger to the hilt ♪ -Great, great.

Oh, yeah.

Okay, good.

Let's go for the hilt.

Great.

And we'll do it six times.

Good.

Okay, good.

[ Both laugh ] Because... -♪ Because the first blow ♪ ♪ Had hit its mark ♪ ♪ And taxed this foolish Yankee ♪ ♪ With his life ♪ -I'm listening to this whole scene, and I'm just boiling inside, because I know that it does not have a happy ending.

-♪ Riffraff like him ♪ -Clarence says this great line, which is, "We'll give him a fair jury trial and then rope him up.

We'll do it all legal, but we know -- between you and me, we know what's going to happen."

-♪ Then we'll hunt down this Patagonian devil ♪ ♪ Teach him our own bloody instructions ♪ ♪ Give him a fair jury trial ♪ ♪ And then rope him up ♪ ♪ And then rope him up ♪ ♪ Then rope him up ♪ ♪ With all the majesty of the law ♪ -Turn around.

♪♪ And sit down.

♪♪ Yeah.

-♪ Josefa had some time to dress herself ♪ ♪ Fit to receive and ♪ ♪ Pattern her picturesque costumes ♪ ♪ The very best she had ♪ ♪♪ -Keep it bright, though, Jim.

-The 4th of July 1851.

I believe that the company danced all night.

They were dancing when I went to sleep.

They were dancing when I woke up the next morning.

Then they got past dancing and lying in drunken heaps about the bar and commenced the most unearthly howling.

Some barked like dogs.

Some roared like bulls.

And others hissed like serpents and geese.

It seems as if they were seized with a reckless mania for pouring down liquor.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -Right.

I mean, the dancers should have been there by -- Stop, stop, stop, stop.

Stop.

-♪ There is no land upon the earth ♪ -The dancers should have been there an hour ago.

-The stump didn't move on time because of Fayette and Eli being there.

-Oh, it should just move.

They'll get out of the way.

-Okay.

-They're -- They're not in danger.

They'll just get out of the way.

-Okay.

-Don't hold things like that for that.

Gentlemen, let's try this entrance one more time, and we'll do this -- all this excitement again.

That's fine.

Let's roll.

-If we could start from "an attempted suicide," measure 414.

-♪ There is no land upon the earth ♪ ♪ Contains the same amount of worth ♪ -Camera lights, 201.5.

-♪ There is no land upon the earth ♪ ♪ Contains the same amount of worth ♪ ♪ We've got more gold than all the world ♪ ♪ A flag that winds whene'er unfurled ♪ -Stand by on the rail for rail 21 cash drop on the rail.

-♪ Than England, France, or Mexico ♪ ♪ We've got the highest mountains here ♪ ♪ Taller trees and faster deer ♪ ♪ Taller trees and faster deer ♪ ♪ We've got a few unmarried gals ♪ ♪ Whiskey, ditches, and canals ♪ ♪ To one and all, both young and old ♪ ♪ You're welcome to the land of gold ♪ -Camera lights 202 through 204.

-♪ Contains the same amount of worth ♪ ♪ There is no land upon the earth ♪ ♪ Contains the same amount of worth ♪ ♪ We've got more gold than all the world ♪ ♪ A flag that winds whene'er unfurled ♪ -And cue 20.

♪ And prisons, too, we've got the best ♪ ♪ And thieves until you cannot rest ♪ ♪ To one and all, both young and old ♪ ♪ You're welcome to the land of gold ♪ -[ Vocalizing ] ♪♪ -August 4, 1852.

Dear Molly, the whole world is dead broke.

With the failure of the golden harvest, the mass of unfortunates have laid down the shovel and hoe and left the river in crowds.

[ Bird squawking ] ♪♪ ♪ In the short span of 24 days ♪ ♪ We have had murders ♪ ♪ Fearful accidents, bloody deaths ♪ In the short span of 24 days we have had murders... ♪ A mob ♪ ...a mob... ♪ Whippings ♪ ...whippings, a hanging... ♪ A hanging ♪ ...an attempted suicide... ♪ An attempted suicide ♪ ...and a fatal duel.

♪ And a fatal duel ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ To one and all, both young and old ♪ ♪ You're welcome to the land of gold ♪ ♪ So come along, be not afraid ♪ ♪ We guarantee you all well-paid ♪ ♪♪ -I think John and Peter not only were trying to give a portrait of those mining camps in that time, but they're giving a portrait and actually feeding directly into how Americans like to look at our history.

All of the beauties right next to the most grotesque things.

-♪ ...of these United States ♪ ♪ They'd elect me president ♪ ♪ A man who owed another ♪ ♪ He should never pay a cent ♪ -Joe's been a failure in every aspect of his life.

He's talking about how if he were the president, he would get it all done and he'd be rich.

And the orchestra just fires back at him.

-♪ I'm going far away from my creditors just now ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I went up to the mines ♪ ♪ And helped to turn a stream ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Got trusted on the strength of that foolish golden dream ♪ ♪ Because I could not pay my bill ♪ ♪ They kicked me out of Downieville ♪ -Now, is it too painful to hit yourself?

-No.

-Try it.

You want to know?

Southern mines.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

How stupid is that?

-Yeah.

♪ Then I took the Truckee route ♪ ♪ People, people threatened hard my life ♪ ♪ Because I stole a miner's wife ♪ ♪ They showed me a rope to give me signs ♪ ♪ Then off I went to the southern mines ♪ -You watch that all night roiling in this guy, and you feel him -- It's ticking.

You feel this guy is about to explode.

Let's go from the same place.

-Josefa has a premonition that something very dark is going to happen.

-And walk to the chair.

And breathe.

-[ Breathes deeply ] My dad is from the South.

And my grandmother, she'd gone through a lot.

I tapped into this place where it was like, "I am my grandmother right now.

I am all these women right now that had no voice."

All they could do is pray.

♪♪ ♪ Ven esta noche amado, querido ♪ ♪ Ven esta noche amado, querido ♪ ♪ Tengo el mundo sobre mi corazón ♪ ♪ Ven esta noche amado, querido ♪ -It's so beautiful.

-Mm.

-If I could feel that you say, "Tonight, come sit here, please."

-Mm.

Mm-hmm.

-"Just sit here."

Don't look at him.

Just, "Just sit here.

Oh, my God, I feel so much.

I feel like the whole [Sighs] world is on my heart.

I feel the whole world.

I feel the whole world.

[ Sighs ] Please be here."

Say, "I love you.

I really love you.

And this is the last night I'm ever going to see you."

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Ven esta noche amado, querido ♪ ♪ Ven esta noche amado, querido ♪ ♪ Tengo el mundo sobre mi corazón ♪ ♪ Ven esta noche amado, querido ♪ ♪ Tengo el mundo sobre mi corazón ♪ ♪ La vida estalla ♪ ♪ La vida estalla ♪ I can't sing when I cry.

It's pretty impossible for me, at least beautifully sing.

-"I dream of the white viper of my destruction."

The white viper.

And see that white -- of my destruction.

Right?

And then look up to the cloudless afternoon.

-♪ Cloudless afternoon, the sun limpid ♪ -Right, now, I'm sure your teachers always told you to stretch your neck and bend your head back.

-Yes.

-It makes the most beautiful, beautiful resonances.

[ Screeching ] [ Laughter ] It's basically the help.

-So easy to sing that way.

-But I would love to just get this sunrise over your head like... -♪ She will be born from a grand jasmine ♪ ♪ And sweetly ♪ ♪ Sweetly ♪ ♪ Sweetly ♪ ♪ So sweetly, sweetly bite my heart ♪ ♪♪ -♪ And I filled the town with lice ♪ ♪ Robbed the Chinese of their rice ♪ ♪ The people say you've got the itch ♪ ♪ So leave this town ♪ You lousy son of a bitch!

♪♪ -Go!

Grab it.

Grab it.

Stop.

Don't move.

Quiet.

You're saying, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

And I want you to -- I want you to just pull her strongly to you.

Don't hurt anyone but just -- just nice.

So this is going to be sexy.

And you're going to try and kiss her right there.

That beautiful music.

Okay?

-Should this be up here and involved or -- -Yeah, probably.

It will help.

I mean, it's part of -- It's your -- It's your af-- It's your aftershave.

Don't get too close.

Don't get too close, Paul.

And now.

And now go in slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.

♪♪ Just dee-da dee-dum.

That little -- Right there is the real kiss.

Just don't be so dramatic.

Just simple, simple, simple.

-Aren't you the little spitfire?

-Simple, simple, simple, simple, simple.

-Get away.

-Simple, simple.

And now come slow, slow, slow.

Bring it -- Go slow towards her.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

Slow.

And now let's have a little kiss.

Let's have a little kiss.

There you go, there you go.

There you go.

There you go.

Okay, good.

-Sorry.

This is me.

-No, but that's it.

That's it, that's it.

-That's creepy.

-[ Speaks indistinctly ] -It's just creepy enough.

Okay.

Uh, okay, let's just take a couple minutes to just detox the room, and then we'll go back into maximum toxicity.

-Paul was making sure the whole time, asking me, "Are you okay?

Is this too rough?"

And Peter was just like, "Go there, go there."

You have to go there at least once, you know?

And it's just like, "Hold on.

I need a moment, 'cause this feels really real."

-And you say, "I'm not doing this."

And you say, "Yes, you are, honey.

Yes, you are.

Let's talk about it.

Let's talk about it.

No.

Let's talk about it.

Let's talk about it.

Just talk about it.

Just talk about it.

Just talk about it.

Let's just talk about it.

I just want to talk about it.

I just want to -- Oh, my God, you are so beautiful."

Okay, okay.

Da-da-da dum.

Da-da-da.

That gorgeous chord.

He started it, and it's hopeless and stupid, but he can't figure out how to retreat.

So he has to come back harder and harder and stronger and stronger, which then, of course, creates this violence that nobody can back away from.

♪♪ -♪ And I filled the town with lice ♪ ♪ Robbed the Chinese of their rice ♪ ♪ The people say you've got the itch ♪ ♪ So leave this town ♪ You lousy son of a bitch!

-Ah!

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Electricity moves through this drunken camp.

-♪ That Joe ♪ -♪ The finest fellow ♪ -♪ Our Joe ♪ -♪ Who ever swung a pick ♪ -♪ He was a soul of honor ♪ -♪ He's dead, dead, dead ♪ -♪ That Joe, that Joe ♪ -♪ The finest ♪ ♪ The finest fellow ♪ -♪ Joe Cannon, now he's dead ♪ -♪ And by a woman ♪ -♪ The finest fellow ♪ -♪ And by a woman ♪ -♪ That ever swung a pick ♪ -♪ Swung a pick ♪ -♪ That Joe ♪ -♪ The finest fellow ♪ -♪ Our Joe ♪ -♪ Who ever swung a pick ♪ -♪ He was a soul of honor, that Joe ♪ ♪ Joe Cannon dead, Joe Cannon ♪ -Turn your back.

Go.

Great.

Hey, you guys.

Can I just say, feel free to put it in your body.

So you're not going, "That Joe, that Joe, that Joe."

But you're going, "That Joe!

That Joe!

That Joe!"

So I get always when you're repeating something the emphasis.

"And now he's dead, dead, dead, dead, dead!"

And make it specific to her.

And you're going to let her know.

♪♪ A mob of a thousand people appear calling for her execution immediately.

And the mood is really dangerous.

-♪ Our Joe ♪ -And the miners are really drunk and are really angry.

-♪ Who ever swung a pick ♪ -♪ Swing a pick ♪ -The crowd surges in.

The noose is put up.

-♪ Now he's dead ♪ -♪ And by a woman ♪ -♪ The finest fellow ♪ ♪ That ever swung a pick ♪ -♪ Swung a pick ♪ -♪ That Joe ♪ ♪ Joe Cannon dead, Joe Cannon ♪ ♪♪ -Lights 193.

♪♪ -♪ Tú me quieres alba ♪ ♪ Tú me quieres de espumas ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Tú me quieres de nácar ♪ ♪ Que sea azucena ♪ ♪ De perfume tenue ♪ ♪ Corola cerrada ♪ ♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ ♪ Sobre todas casta ♪ -This incredible text written by an Argentinian woman says, "You want me as pure as pearl.

You want me to fit your image of what a woman is, and I am who I am.

I'm not this person that you men want me to be."

-♪ Ni un rayo de la luna ♪ ♪ Filtrado me haya ♪ ♪ Tú me quieres nívea ♪ -This is the moment where Josefa does not hold back.

"Once you have looked in the mirror and healed yourself, then you can come back to me and tell me how to be."

-♪ Then good man ♪ ♪ Expect me ♪ ♪ To be immaculate ♪ ♪ Expect me ♪ ♪ To be snow white ♪ ♪ Expect me ♪ ♪ To be chaste ♪ -It was clear that for not ending with a lynching, I could not show a lynching.

What you show is step by step how something goes out of control.

What are the justifications people give themselves when they do truly abhorrent things?

-♪ When the verdict was formally declared ♪ ♪ Josefa gave a quiet little laugh ♪ -Every performance, by the time we get to the hanging, I almost went cold, actually, each night.

The fur-- like, the fury of it was all before.

It's like there's nothing to say.

What do you say?

Life's getting wrung out of somebody.

They can't say anything, so there's nothing to say.

-♪ It's four long years since I reached this land ♪ ♪ In search of gold among the rocks and sand ♪ ♪ And yet I'm poor when the truth is told ♪ ♪ I'm a lousy miner in search of shining gold ♪ -I was crying almost every night when the miners were singing, "I'm a lousy miner, I'm a lousy miner."

Just, like, self-hatred, it was all just coming forth in this moment.

And sadly, it's like none of them felt that they could have made any other decisions than what they made.

-♪ Now they crawl up and down my back ♪ ♪ And now they crawl up and down ♪ ♪ Up and down my back ♪ ♪ I'm ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -One of the things that's striking about every one of the historical sources is they agree on nothing until the moment after the hanging.

And every single source regrets the hanging.

Everyone wants this history to have been something else and would rather it ended another way.

-♪ Sometimes ♪ ♪ I lounge forlornly to the window ♪ ♪ And try to take a bird's-eye view ♪ ♪ Of outdoors ♪ -Louise Clappe didn't stay in the mining camps all that long, really.

It doesn't surprise me, actually, that she left, because there's so many... horrendous human acts that she witnessed.

And I think there's just only so much somebody's psyche can take.

-♪ The wonderful ♪ ♪ And never enough to be talked about sky ♪ ♪ Of California ♪ ♪ Drops down upon the whole ♪ ♪ Drops down upon the whole ♪ ♪ Its fathomless splendor ♪ ♪ Its fathomless splendor ♪ ♪ Its fathomless ♪ ♪ Splendor ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -To find out more about this and other "Great Performances" programs, visit pbs.org/greatperformances, find us on Facebook, and follow us on X.

♪♪ -♪ So come along, be not afraid ♪ ♪ We guarantee you all well-paid ♪ ♪♪ -[ Vocalizing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪