San Francisco Chronicle

S.F. Opera brought ‘Dead Man Walking’ to life 25 years ago. Here’s why it’s the most performed new American opera
September 2025

A quarter century after it burst onto the San Francisco stage with a story about capital punishment, justice and forgiveness, the opera “Dead Man Walking” is coming home. The landmark work by San Francisco composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally returns to the War Memorial Opera House, Sept. 14-28, as part of the San Francisco Opera’s 103rd season.

“(The story) was in the popular dialogue at that time nationally because of the movie and the book,” Heggie said, referring to the 1993 memoir of the same name by Sister Helen Pregean — the nun who counseled Joseph De Rocher, a man on death row after brutally killing a young couple — and the 1995 film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

“I recognized it was emotionally big enough to fill an opera house. There were characters that seemed like archetypes — nun, warden, parent — so an audience would be able to immediately identify with those people. And because of this size of emotion, it made sense for people to sing, not just speak.”

Heggie often describes the opera’s debut as “miraculous,” a word he uses to capture both its unlikely origins and lasting impact.