Failing Kansas

Opera, 1994, by Mikel Rouse. It is the first in a trilogy, followed by DENNIS CLEVELAND (1996) and The End of Cinematics (forthcoming in 2000). It is written in four large sections linked by five interludes.

Failing Kansas was inspired by Truman Capote's documentary novel In Cold Blood, which recounts in vivid detail a series of murders committed in the midwest. The work is scored for solo singer with a multitude of ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS, a virtual compendium of the possibilities of his COUNTERPOETRY technique.

Failing Kansas has been praised as the first viable music-theater work of the new, post-ROCK 'N' ROLL generation of composers known as TOTALISTS.