alloween 2015: Henry Doktorski performed as rehearsal/orchestral pianist for the opera Night of the Living Dead with music by Todd Goodman and libretto by Stephen Catanzarte. All three performances at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, Pennsylvania (October 30, 31 and November 1) were sold out, to the delight of opera lovers and zombie enthusiasts alike. The full-length opera is based on George Romero's landmark 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead.
The opera Night of the Living Dead won The American Prize in Composition--Theater Division and includes three choruses for the undead. Director Gregory Lehane, a professor in the Drama and Music Department at Carnegie Mellon University, explained, "By giving the zombies a voice we can hear exactly, or look at exactly what it means to be thought of as something less than human, and how frustrating it is to try to press forward in a world that's always trying to prevent that."
Todd Goodman, who serves on the faculty of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland, scored the work for violin, cello, flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano, synthesizer and percussion.
