The Perfect American is an opera composed by Philip Glass, with a libretto by Rudy Wurlitzer. It's an adaptation of the book of the same name (translated from Der König von Amerika) by Peter Stephan Jungk.
Set in 1966 and told in Anachronic Order, the opera begins with Walt Disney in his final days, dying of lung cancer, before jumping back a few months to show him as a more active man. At the end of his career, and approaching the end of his life, Walt wrestles with his mortality and looks back upon the empire he's built.
William Dantine, a former Disney employee who was fired for trying to form a union and complaining about workers' rights, returns to challenge Walt and criticise his business practices.
Josh, a young patient Walt meets in hospital, idolises him and considers him an almost magical creator.
But whether he was right or wrong, Walt Disney's story is coming to its end. The empire of Disney may continue, but Walt himself is just a man - and his power and riches won't let him cheat death.
It premiered on January 22, 2013.
The Perfect American contains examples of the following tropes:
- All in the Manual: As with many operas, it's hard to follow the story without a programme. Scenes are in Anachronic Order and dates and locations aren't always confirmed by the staging or libretto. More generally, the opera assumes its audience is already broadly familiar with Walt Disney and the Disney media empire.
- Anachronic Order: Scenes jump back and forth within the last few months of 1966. Although this isn't always clear onstage, so there's also an element of All in the Manual to it.
- Bigger Than Jesus: Walt tells Hazel that children know Mickey Mouse better than Jesus.
- Cool Mask: Lucy arrives at Walt's birthday in an owl mask, saying that she's trick-or-treating. It's weeks after Halloween and other characters find her very creepy.
- Cross-Cast Role: Josh, the boy Walt meets in hospital, is a soprano's role performed by a woman. For the original production the role is sung by Rosie Lomas.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Early in the opera, Walt comments that his older brother Roy is the sensible one and things would have fallen apart without him.
- Historical Domain Character: The opera is centered on the life of Walt Disney, and Roy Disney and Walt's nurse nurse Hazel George were both real people. Andy Warhol also appears as a supporting character.
- Human Popsicle: Walt is enthusiastic about cryonics and the possibility of cheating death by being frozen. However, in the final scene, the funerary worker tells Dantine that Disney's family actually had his body cremated.
- Just the First Citizen: Walt may be in charge, but he wants his employees to call him Walt. He angrily berates an employee who forgets and calls him "sir".
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The original production was unable to use images of any of the iconic Disney characters. There are references to Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, but art shows sketched circles and ovals creating familiar outlines (e.g. a large circle for Mickey's head with two smaller circles for ears), but nothing specific.
- Retraux: The original production's projections of the Disney art process are black and white images, but also deliberately scratchy, with a little bit of interference making them appear aged. The interference sometimes remains even when the background is pure black.
- Two-Faced: Promotional posters for the opera show Walt with one side of his face realistic and the other drawn as a cartoon character.
