Men I’m Not Married To Published by E.C. Schirmer
This has been in the works for a while, and today it’s a reality! Men I'm Not Married To, with music by Lisa DeSpain and libretto by me, is now available from E.C. Schirmer!
The opera is loosely adapted from Dorothy Parker’s eponymous text. In the summer of 1924, three young bridesmaids are at their mutual friend’s wedding reception, hiding from their respective assigned groomsmen: a prankster whose antics have run afoul; a sanctimonious judge obsessed with Prohibition contraband; and a self-proclaimed intellectual full of unsolicited advice. Thank goodness it’s the era of the New Woman, when dating has supplanted courtship and a woman’s worth will never again be tied to her marital prospects. Right?
Dorothy Parker, notorious for her biting satire and ferocious wit in poetry and prose, conceived Men I’m Not Married To as a companion piece to Franklin Pierce Adams’s Women I’m Not Married To, in which a man struggles to understand why so many eligible women snub such a great catch as him! Though 1920s flappers remain scantily clad in the American popular imagination, women customarily wore many layers of undergarments until well into the decade; they simply removed them for greater comfort during social gatherings. We’ve expanded Parker’s original text from the perspective of one woman to three bridesmaids stuck in matching unfortunate outfits and circumstances. Our Frances, Mildred, and Evelyn cast off their underpinnings, taken aback by the reality of their newfound freedom.
This short work is easy to produce and fits neatly into a program of one-acts, or the can work individually on scenes programs or recitals.
Special thanks to Cleveland Opera Theater, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and On Site Opera for commissioning this work as an early pandemic video project, and to Brigham Young University for its development into a live staged work.
Head over to E.C. Schirmer, snag your piano/vocal score, and plan your next production today! Full score and parts are forthcoming. Meanwhile, you can watch our 2023 workshop of the opera in its entirety.