Reviews

Dead Man Walking
Fort Worth Opera (2009)


Fort Worth Opera’s 'Dead Man Walking’ packs powerful emotional punch.

If you weren’t in Bass Hall on Saturday night, call Fort Worth Opera right now, or go to the Web site. You have one more chance to see the company’s Dead Man Walking, which packs more emotional wallop than anything I can remember seeing in a theater. Bring tissues.

David Gately’s staging, set amid endlessly shifting chain-link fences designed by Harry Frehner and Scott Reid, seems to get everything right.

Dead Man Walking was the most powerful theatrical experience I can remember.

— Scott Cantrell — Dallas Morning News


Director David Gately once again brought his keen combination of insight and imagination to a Fort Worth Opera production, creating an aura of day-to-day reality on stage that in turn gave the opera its gripping emotional effect.

— Wayne Lee Gay — Theater Jones


This was musical drama of a high order. A strong point was the stage direction of David Gately, which heightened the drama in many ways. This was almost a shocking departure from his work of the previous evening’s Cinderella. He obviously is a man of many facets.

— Olin Chism