Real Time Opera

About a decade ago, Real Time Opera commissioned a new opera called Hutong. It's going places! Stay tuned.

Hutong (An Opera-In-Progress) - Other Minds Definition: 1) Hutong (simplified Chinese: 胡同; traditional Chinese: 衚衕 or 胡同; pinyin: hútòng) are a type of narrow lane or alleyway in a traditional residential area of a Chinese city, especially Beijing.

Eleven years ago, RTO commissioned the text for a new Jazz opera from underground comic book maverick Harvey Pekar, music by Dan Plonsey and Josh Smith. The opera – entitled Leave Me Alone! – depicts the kinds of quotidian situations for which Harvey became famous in his series of autobiographical comics, American Splendor. In addition to writing the libretto, he also appeared (as himself) in the Real Time Opera/Oberlin College premiere of the piece, which streamed live to a global audience in January, 2009.

Sadly, Harvey died the following year. However, in advance the performance, he created a poster for RTO, which we're now offering for sale, in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the opera. Purchase is through our ebay page at

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113536627496 .

Signed Limited Edition Harvey Pekar Poster | eBay Each exemplar is hand-numbered (x/300) and individually signed by both Pekar and the illustrator, Joseph Remnant. | eBay!

OperaHead, Issue 1:
http://www.realtimeopera.org/operaHead?fbclid=IwAR21vJ5tZtL2myr9UW-06N82LIOVterXtWeUCy4eECTDyvKT6viaN405rcc

Here's the phone conversation between Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb that RTO recorded in 2009 in advance of our production of Leave Me Alone. A snippet was excised for the opera (you can see that online at our website, realtimeopera.org), but this is the full 20+ minute exchange: https://soundcloud.com/real-time-opera-655030300/harvey-pekar-robert-crumb-phone-call-22009

Harvey Pekar - Robert Crumb - Phone Call 2/2009 A taped phone conversation between comics icons Harvey Pekar and Robert Crumb, part of Real Time Opera's 2009 production of the Jazz Impropera "Leave Me Alone" at Oberlin College in Ohio. Video at htt

Re-reading our opera blog from NOVA. What a show that was! We would love more comments from people in the audience that weekend. Feel free to add your voice!

Opera Head: an online journal featuring articles by prominent guest authors and inviting... Musically Brilliant Posted by Mike Telin on April 8, 2014Leave a CommentStage Director Jonathon Field described NOVA as having David Lynch characters in a Dick Van D**e setting doing Monty Python things. This is certainly an appropriate summing up of the opera. And, in an odd way, I am completely fa…

I keep finding more Harvey Pekar Opera stuff. Here's a comic he wrote, featuring R. Crumb, which I'd never seen before. Funny how these things keep appearing!

More fabulous Operatic Harveyness from NPR

Harvey Pekar Makes His Opera Debut Leave Me Alone is a new jazz opera by writer and social commentator Harvey Pekar and saxophonist and composer Dan Plonsey about the future of cutting-edge music and marital discord.

Music segments at 9:30 and 16:00 ... but the whole thing is a fun interview and worth the listen.

Leave Me Alone! Harvey Pekar Opera Live on WCPN's Around Noon Dee Perry welcomes back Cleveland curmudgeon Harvey Pekar to spotlight music from his new jazz opera with Dan Plonsey onstage at Oberlin College - Leave Me A...

Here's a video segment from "Leave Me Alone!", starring Harvey Pekar, music by Dan Plonsey and Josh Smith, lots of other fabulous musicians. Amazing it was one night only!

Harvey Pekar's Jazz Opera "Leave Me Alone!" (Some language inappropriate for minors). The first EVER live webcast of a world premiere opera, this ground-breaking performance at Finney Chapel in Oberlin...

Who remembers the Lionel Richie scene from 'Leave Me Alone!' in 2009? It was the first ever live broadcast of an opera world premiere, brought to you by none other than Real Time Opera!