Overview
Synopsis
In a village in West Africa, Voodoo is performing a ritual ceremony. A Girl had been designated as the sacrifice, but she was made unclean when a Boy was caught watching her bathe. In the middle of the ritual, the drumming of tom-toms in the distance catches their attention. But it is too late, the slavers are already on top of them. They capture everyone in the village, abducting them from their homes, and taking them to America.
Voodoo, the Girl, the Boy, and the Girl’s Mother have been sold to a southern plantation. They spend their days laboring, and the long dark nights singing spirituals and saying prayers for deliverance. They are desperate to escape, and Voodoo calls everyone to rise up against their masters. The Girl’s Mother thinks they will never escape, and rather than risk her daughter being abused by their masters, she decides to set her free by killing her. Just in time, a shout comes across the fields; the army from the north has arrived, and the people are free.
They travel to the cities in the north, settling in Harlem. Voodoo plans to build a ship and return to Africa, taking as many people as he can back to their homeland. His plans are sabotaged, when a Real Estate Man oversells shares in his company, and a riot breaks out, destroying the ship. Voodoo is blamed, and in the mob’s frenzy, someone strikes and kills him. The Boy takes up Voodoo’s tom-tom, and swears to tell his story throughout the world.
Incorporating the evolution of musical styles, from tribal chanting and drumming, through the creation of spirituals, and into the beginnings of jazz and cabaret to tell this epic story, Shirley Graham Du Bois’s opera Tom-Tom is making its well-deserved entrance into the operatic canon.
Show Information
- Music
- Shirley Graham Du Bois
- Libretto
- Shirley Graham Du Bois
- Category
- Opera
- Age Guidance
- Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
- Number of Acts
- 3
- First Produced
- 1932
- Genres
- Historical/Biographical, Drama
- Settings
- Multiple Settings, Period
- Time & Place
- West Africa, Southern Plantation, Harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Slave Trade
- Cast Size
- medium
- Orchestra Size
- Large
- Dancing
- Some Dance
- Licensor
- Unpublished
- Ideal For
- Professional Opera, Ensemble Cast, Diverse Cast, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Young Adult, Adult, Mature Adult, Child, Early Teen, Late Teen, Elderly Characters, Medium Cast
Context
A piece as epic in scale as Shirley Graham Du Bois’s opera Tom-Tom is a necessary addition to the operatic canon. Du Bois retells the story of innumerable African people taken from their home in Africa and forced into slavery. These slaves are freed, and make their way to Harlem, with the promise of living free in the big cities. The characters in this opera have no names. They are both lacking in identity, having had it taken away from them, and steeped in the identities of the innumerable
to read the context for Tom-Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
Author’s Note: The plot below is taken from the manuscript, available to view at the Harvard Library. This plot follows the main layout of the manuscript. Additional materials, some of which would affect the plot, are detailed in the Song List.
Act 1
In an unnamed village in West Africa, the tom-toms can be heard in the distance. The Leader tells the Boy to listen to them (‘Listen to the distant Tom-Toms’). He must use his
to read the plot for Tom-Tom: An Epic of Music and the Negro and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lead |
Male |
Tenor |
|
|
Lead |
Male |
Baritone |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Soprano |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Mezzo-Soprano, Contralto |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Bass |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Bass, Baritone, Bass-Baritone |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Baritone |
|
|
Featured |
Female |
Mezzo-Soprano, Contralto |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Tenor, Baritone |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Baritone |
|
|
Ensemble |
Either Gender |
Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Bass, Baritone, Contralto |
Songs
Author’s Note: The breakdown below has been developed from the manuscript of this opera, available to view from Harvard Library. As is the nature of a manuscript, there are many additions and edits which may or may not be included in a final production of this opera. As it is impossible to know the composers original intentions for every piece of music, they are all included below.
Overture
Act 1
Scene 1
- Tom-Toms and Chorus
Scene 2
- ‘Listen to the distant Tom-Toms’ - Leader, Boy
- ‘Ko no me, Ba bo le ka’ - Chorus
- ‘Low clouds hang low’ - Voodoo, Chorus
- Dance
- ‘Behold our off’ring to the gods’ - Voodoo, Mother
- ‘Happy is my fate’ - Mother
- Purification Scene
- ‘Draw near - prepare for the gods!’ - Voodoo, Girl, Women
- ‘I’m afraid, I’m afraid’ - Girl, Mother
- ‘Go away, It means death’ - Girl, Boy
- ‘Woe to thee rebellious one!’ - Voodoo, Girl, Boy, Mother, Chorus
- ‘Cruel are the gods! Cruel and heartless’ - Boy, Voodoo
- ‘Lo ko kuti ga’ - Chorus
Scene 3
- ‘Ba bo le ka’ - Chorus
- ‘Nkosi ke leh lah ee Africa’ - Voodoo, Boy, Chorus
Scene 4
- Interlude
- Slaves’s Chorus - Chorus, Boy, Voodoo
Act 2
Scene 1
- Introduction
- ‘Darkness, darkness’ - Boy
- ‘Didn’t Lord deliver Daniel’ - Negro Preacher
- ‘I want Jesus to walk with me’ - Boy, Chorus
- ‘Fire! Light! River!’ - Voodoo, Boy, Chorus
Scene 2
- ‘Sometimes I feel like a motherless child’ - Woman, Chorus, Girl, Boy
- ‘Up north dar is big cities’ - Boy, Girl, Woman, Chorus
- ‘The debbil can’t do me no harm’ - Boy, Girl, Chorus
- ‘And so you sing, tho’ far away from home’ - Voodoo, Chorus
- ‘No, no, didn’t my Lord deliver Daniel’ - Mother, Girl, Voodoo, Boy
- ‘We got to all go’ - Voodoo, Woman
Scene 3
- ‘Sharp da sword my Lord’ - Mother, Girl, Chorus
- ‘Dere is peace in dat lan’ where yo bound!’ - Mother, Preacher, Chorus
- ‘It’s freedom! It’s freedom!’ - Boy, Preacher, Mother, Girl, Chorus
- ‘You are free’’ - Voodoo
Act 3
- Cabaret Scene ‘No time’ - Girl
- ‘Dancing feet’ - Girl
- African Dance
Scene 1
- Introduction - Chorus
- ‘Just a minute, folks!’ - Real Estate Man
- ‘What is this you are telling my people?’ - Voodoo, Real Estate Man, Chorus
- ‘But I do not want shares and bonds’ - Mother, Voodoo
- ‘Good evening Elder’ - Mother, Boy, Voodoo, Chorus
- ‘My god is a jealous god’ - Boy, Voodoo, Mother, Real Estate Man
- ‘Heed not this madness’ - Boy, Mother, Voodoo, Real Estate Man
Scene 2
- ‘Everybody talking ‘bout heaven’ - Chorus
- Interlude ‘Dancing Feet’
- ‘My child, I’ve been waiting for you’ - Mother, Girl, Cabaret Manager
- ‘No time’ - Girl, Boy
- ‘Dancing feet’ - Girl, Real Estate Man
Scene 3 - "The World at Work"
- Workers Chorus ‘Yes, we are diggin’, diggin’ coal’ - Chorus (Coal Diggers, Train Men, Carpenters)
- ‘Buy your shares now’ - Real Estate Man, Voodoo, Pilgrims, Mother, Captain
Scene 4
- ‘I’m going down to the ship’ - Mother, Boy, Voodoo, Girl, Chorus
- ‘Where is this man’ - Chorus
- ‘Oh my people’ - Voodoo, Girl, Chorus
- ‘You kill him’ - Mother
- ‘Stand back, savages’ - Boy
- ‘It does not matter now, my boy’ - Voodoo, Boy, Girl
- ‘Talk about a child that do love Jesus’ - Mother, Chorus
Additional material
Act 3 Scene 1
- ‘Words do not come to me quickly’ - Voodoo, Boy, Real Estate Man, Mother, Chorus
Voodoo invites the people to sail with him in search of gold and gems, before the Real Estate Man approaches him with the idea of selling stocks and bonds. This would come before ‘Just a minute folks’.
Act 3 Scene 1
- ‘Good evening parson, how’s your health’ - Real Estate Man, Boy
The Real Estate Man tries to appeal to the Boy, who is now a Reverend, and to sell him on the idea of their ship to Africa. The Boy refuses to be involved in shady business dealings with the Real Estate Man.
Act 3 Scene 3
- ‘Oh, drive dat hammer boy’ - Chorus, Real Estate Man
Additional chorus material for the workers chorus scene. The Real Estate Man introduces and explains the steamship company and sells his shares.
Act 3 Scene 2
- ‘Oh boundless love, oh blessed peace’ - Chorus, Girl
- ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord’ - Mother, Boy, Real Estate Man, Workers
Further music for the church scene. The Boy preaches of the dangers of following those talking of diamonds and gold in Africa. The Real Estate Man starts selling stocks in the church. Note, this is marked as Act 3 Scene 4, but leads directly into the Interlude and ‘My child I’ve been waiting for you’.
- ‘My child I’ve been waiting for you’ - Mother, Girl
Further music for the scene between the Mother and Girl.
Act 3 Scene 4
- ‘Yes we are diggin’, diggin’ coal’ - Chorus, Real Estate Man, Voodoo, Chairman
Further music for the workers scene, including a conversation between Voodoo and the Chairman, who explains that the stock is sold twice over.
- ‘I have come for one last word with you’ - Boy, Voodoo, Captain
The Boy approaches Voodoo and accuses him of creating this scheme of stocks and shares. Voodoo tries to explain that it was never his idea, he only dreams of returning home. The Captain tries to explain that the ship is already overcrowded, but Voodoo tells him he must make room for everyone. This leads directly to the scene where the people storm the ship, and then the Mother’s aria ‘You kill him’.
Act 3 Scene 1
Alternative version of the same scene.
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
The movement responsible for ending the transatlantic slave trade in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
A group of musicians, actors, or dancers who perform together.
A style or genre of drama characterized by realism and an absence of theatrical devices. Often associated with the work of Bertolt Brecht.
A cultural movement in early twentieth-century America that celebrated and advocated for the art, literature, music, fashion, and theatre of African-American communities.
A genre of music developed especially from ragtime and blues and characterized by syncopated rhythms, complex chords, elements of improvisation, and distortions of pitch and timbre.
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Guide Written By:
Wendy Silvester
Singer and vocal coach based in the UK.