Synopsis of Elmer Gantry

a new American opera

Elmer Gantry is a new American opera based on Sinclair Lewis' famous satirical novel from 1927 that follows the adventures of a fraudulent, womanizing evangelist. Elmer, a small-town football hero with the gift of gab, falls in love with and becomes business manager for a beautiful traveling evangelist, Sharon Falconer. He helps her realize her dream of building a magnificent tabernacle before his misdeeds bring ruin to them both. The music for Elmer Gantry places traditional operatic forms - arias, duets and large ensembles - into a boldly American, vernacular, and ‘roots'-based musical language. Original hymns and gospel choruses help to tell this quintessentially American story of religion, love and corruption.