By Dwight Casimere
On the heels of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s wildly successful 2021/22 season opener Fire Shut Up in My Bones and kicking off Black History Month, the Lyric presents the Soul Opera The Factotum at the Harris Theater, 205 East Randolph Chicago on Feb. 3-12.
Inspired by Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, The Factotum is an original piece that updates the action to a Black barbershop on Chicago’s South Side. Created by Grammy-nominated Ryan Opera Center alumnus, baritone Will Liverman, who starred in last season’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and multi-instrumentalist DJ King Rico, the opera fuses the mediums of Soul, Gospel, Funk Hip-Hop, R and B and elements of modern dance and classical opera into a singular concept that redefines the genre.
At a Works and Process preview performance and discussion at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Liverman discussed the genesis of his soul opera with The Times Weekly.
“I got the inspiration after watching a documentary on opera and one day when I was sitting in a barbershop, I thought of what it would be like to set the opera The Barber of Seville in a black barbershop.”
Liverman says he was first introduced to opera in high school “I started doing opera at the Governor’s School for Performing Arts, in Virginia. That’s where opera was introduced to me. I segued fully into opera when I started studying in college in Illinois, and then I went to Julliard in New York, got my Masters. I started doing a lot of free-lance stuff and that’s when things really took off for me.”
Liverman starred in Lyric’s 2021/22-season opener Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Terence Blanchard based on the best-selling memoir by New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow. For him, it was a life-changing experience.
“During the pandemic I got a call from my agent to audition for the role of Charles Blow in what was going to be the Met’s first commission for a Black opera. I auditioned for the role, and they signed me to sing in Fire Shut Up in My Bones. For me, that was a life-changing experience, being involved with Terence Blanchard, the first black composer to be involved with the Met on that level. While he did ‘The Fire’, I was writing The Factotum at the same time.”
The Factotum is at the Harris Theater Chicago Feb. 3-12. For information, visit harristheaterchicago.org. or lyricopera.org.