It's an interesting concept and an interesting account of some true events/ real people in California history. The staging, sets, and costumes are spectacular, the singers extremely skilled and with amazing voices. It's a shame about the music, which was atonal, lacked melody, and had the unfortunate habit of lulling one to sleep (the woman next to me got an enviable 40 minute nap; I unfortunately nodded in and out several times, completely losing track of the plot.) The libretto is based on letters and eyewitness accounts, which is interesting, but numerous lines are ponderously (and unnecessarily) repeated, giving a bit of a lecturing tone. There were numerous seats left empty after intermission, I noticed, and the applause seemed polite in contrast to the normally effusive San Francisco audiences.

Yes, this is probably the worst opera I have seen in my life. I agree with the other reviews in that It was atonal and dissonant, it felt like the tones were repeated again and again throughout the entire show. Although, he second half was better which I was glad I did not leave after all. I felt the performers sang well and had a wonderful operatic control. It's too bad they had a bad director. The orchestra was good too.

I’ve been an opera goer for many years and this is the first time I had to leave after the first act. I was really looking forward to what sounded lik a creative and daring performance. Instead it was deadly dull. Minimal staging and didn’t seem to have a musical score Truly awful

This modern opera lacked drama, character, emotion and musicality. In order of contributions, I would say Dame Shirley’s voice was stunning, the set was spare but inventive, John Adams’ score had some interesting orchestral juxtapositions but was generally monotonic, and Peter Sellers’ libretto was disorganized and devoid of plot and pacing. If SF Opera wants to attract anyone under 60 to the art form that is opera, they will have to make a more accessible work that engages instead of lectures the audience.

I couldn’t stay for more than one act. It seemed that the piece was written for robots, which don’t have emotions - all in one tone. May be the singers had nice voices and were talented, but it was hard to appreciate them, since their voices were used in so narrow way.

The singing was great, the staging was mostly interesting, the orchestra did the best they could with what they had to work with. BUT, the music was awful. It was atonal and dissonant, which rather than accent the score, was the entire listening experience. It made no sense with the lyrics, which were disjointed at best. Even if you like modern, experimental music, this just wasn't good. Save your opera money for a different show.