# Flight (opera)

Flight is an English-language opera in three acts, with music by Jonathan Dove and libretto by April De Angelis. Commissioned by Glyndebourne Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera premiered the work at Glyndebourne Opera House in a production by Richard Jones on 24 September 1998. It received its Glyndebourne Festival premiere with the original cast at Glyndebourne Festival Opera on 14 August 1999, and was revived at Glyndebourne in August 2005.
De Angelis took part of the inspiration for the plot from the true-life story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee who lived at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, for 18 years, unable to exit the airport terminal. Some of the same real events surrounding Nasseri were later used in the story for the 2004 Steven Spielberg film The Terminal, independently conceived after the opera.
Dove has also arranged music from Flight into an orchestral suite, titled Airport Scenes, for concert performances. This suite was first performed in Warwick on 7 March 2006.

## Roles

| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 24 September 1998 (Conductor: David Parry (conductor)) |
| Refugee | countertenor | Christopher Robson |
| Controller | soprano | Claron McFadden |
| Bill | tenor | Richard Coxon |
| Tina | soprano | Mary Plazas |
| Stewardess | mezzo-soprano | Ann Taylor |
| Older Woman | contralto | Nuala Willis |
| Steward | baritone | Garry Magee |
| Minskman | baritone | Steven Page |
| Minskwoman | mezzo-soprano | Anne Mason |
| Immigration Officer | bass-baritone | Richard Van Allan |

## Plot

The setting is the departure lounge of an unspecified airport. The opera takes place over the course of one full day and the following morning.

### Act 1

In the airport, all of the characters are en route somewhere, except for the Controller, the Refugee, and the Immigration Officer. The Refugee cannot leave the airport because he does not have a passport or other documents to allow him to enter the country legally. The Immigration Officer looks for the Refugee in order to arrest him. Married couple Bill and Tina are going on holiday to try to get their relationship out of its routine with the help of a sex manual. The Older Woman, appearing in disguise, has come to the terminal to wait for her "fiancé"—a younger man that has promised to meet her. Minskman is a diplomat relocating for an assignment, and his wife, Minskwoman, is pregnant and on the brink of childbirth. The Stewardess and Steward, when not serving the customers, enjoy a vibrant physical relationship. At the last minute, Minskwoman is afraid to fly, and Minskman goes to his destination without his wife. The Flight Controller warns of approaching storms. The Older Woman's fiancé has not arrived, and Bill and Tina prepare to depart. As Act I closes, all of the characters are suddenly delayed and stranded at the airport because of the inclement weather.

### Act 2

The time is during the night, just after the storm has "gotten worse" and grounded all the planes. After all the characters have gone to sleep, Bill, in an attempt to break out of his "predictable" nature, makes a pass at the Stewardess, but is shocked to find the Steward instead. The two of them agree to venture up to the heights of the control tower. The Flight Controller grapples with the lack of planes and verbally assaults the storm outside her tower. The Refugee tries to insinuate himself with the various women and gives them (at various points throughout the act) each a "magic stone" that he says will cure their individual travails. The women toast their good fortune and drink with the Refugee. Eventually, as the storm builds, the drunk women realize that the Refugee has given them all the same "magic stone" and turn on him in a fit of rage, knocking him unconscious and concealing his body within a trunk. Up above in the tower, Bill and the Steward engage in an explorative sexual affair.

### Act 3

It is dawn; the storm has cleared, and every character reels from the events of the previous night. The controller announces the sudden arrival of a plane. Minskman has returned suddenly on the first available flight back, unable to continue without his wife at his side. When Tina learns of Bill's sexual encounter, she is enraged and angrily strikes him with the sex manual, knocking him unconscious as well. The Minskwoman suddenly goes into labor and delivers her baby in the terminal, just as the Refugee awakes from the trunk. The characters, with the insight of newborn life, reflect on the problems in their lives and offer forgiveness to each other for their wrongs. The Immigration Officer finally catches up with the Refugee. The passengers divide into two camps, one demanding the arrest of the Refugee, with the other trying to persuade the Immigration Officer to "review the situation". The Immigration Officer is implacable, citing the need to observe the rules. The Refugee then tells his story, which explains why he has no documentation. His story touches the passengers, and also the Immigration Officer. The officer says that the Refugee cannot leave the terminal, but also that he will "turn a blind eye" and not arrest him.
With the storm cleared, Minskman and Minskwoman, with their new baby, fly to his new mission. Tina, taking the opportunity to start fresh with her husband Bill, go to their respective vacation destination. The Older Woman decides to venture out on a flight herself. The Steward and Stewardess make amends, each working on their respective flights. The opera ends with an enigmatic inquiry from the Controller to the Refugee.

## Recording

The opera has been recorded commercially for Chandos, taken from the live Channel 4 television broadcast from Glyndebourne.

## Selected list of stagings

| Date | Venue | Company | Notes |
| 24 September 1998 | Glyndebourne Opera House | Glyndebourne Touring Opera | World premiere, production by Richard Jones |
| 1999 | Glyndebourne Opera House | Glyndebourne Festival Opera | Festival premiere with original cast, production by Richard Jones |
| November 2001 | Rabotheater Hengelo [nl] | Nationale Reisopera [nl] | Netherlands stage premiere, production by Richard Jones |
| February 2002 | Flanders Opera (Vlaamse Opera) | Vlaamse Opera, Ghent | Belgium stage premiere, production by Richard Jones |
| 8 June 2003 | Webster University | Opera Theatre of Saint Louis | First US performance, production directed by Colin Graham. |
| April 2004 | Opernhaus, Leipzig | Leipzig Opera | First German production (sung in German translation) |
| 2005 | Glyndebourne | Glyndebourne Festival Opera | Revival |
| 2005 | Shubert Theatre (Boston), Massachusetts | Boston Lyric Opera | production directed by Colin Graham |
| 3 March 2006 | Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival, Australia | Glyndebourne Opera | Australian premiere,, production by Richard Jones, under the artistic direction of Brett Sheehy, winner of Australia's 2006 Helpmann Award for Best Opera. |
| January 2008 | CAPA Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Pittsburgh Opera Center | Performance by the resident and guest artists of the Pittsburgh Opera, directed by Kristine McIntyre |
| September 2008 | Peacock Theatre, London | British Youth Opera | Production directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans |
| April 2011 | Long Center in Austin, Texas | Austin Lyric Opera | Directed by Kristine McIntyre |
| May 2015 | Gerald W. Lynch Theater, New York | Mannes Opera | New York premiere |
| June 2015 | Holland Park Theatre, London | Opera Holland Park | London professional premiere staged by Stephen Barlow (director) |
| November 2015 | Boston Conservatory Theater, Boston, Massachusetts | Boston Conservatory | Jonathan Pape, director |
| February 2017 | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco | Opera Parallèle | Nicole Paiement, artistic director/conductor; Brian Staufenbiel, creative director |
| February 2017 | Prinzregententheater, Munich, Germany | Theaterakademie August Everding | First German production of the original English version |
| April 2017 | Orpheum Theatre (Omaha), Nebraska | Opera Omaha | James Darrah, director; Christopher Rountree, conductor |
| February 2018 | Theatre Royal, Glasgow and Edinburgh Festival Theatre | Scottish Opera | Director: Stephen Barlow; designer: Andrew Riley; lighting designer: Richard Howell |
| March 2018 | Susie Sainsbury Theatre | Royal Academy of Music | Director: Martin Duncan; conductor: Gareth Hancock; designer: Francis O'Connor |
| July 2018 | Blank Performing Arts Center (Indianola, Iowa) | Des Moines Metro Opera | Kristine McIntyre, director; David Neely, conductor |
| April 2021 | Museum of Flight, Tukwila, Washington | Seattle Opera | Brian Staufenbiel, director; Viswa Subbaraman, conductor |
| January 2022 | Capitol Theatre (Salt Lake City), Salt Lake City, Utah | Utah Opera | Director: Kristine McIntyre, Conductor: Robert Tweten |
| March 2022 | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, New Athenaeum Theatre, Glasgow | Royal Conservatoire of Scotland | James Bonas, Director |
| June 2022 | Royal College of Music, Kensington, London | Royal College of Music | Jeremy Sams, Director |
| September 2023 | Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Oldenburg (Oldb), Germany | Oldenburgisches Staatstheater | Director: Kobie van Rensburg Conductor: Vito Cristofaro |