Please be advised that the following information refers to a production from the Met's 2005-2006 season. Explore our 2009-2010 season to view the current repertory.

An American Tragedy

Approximate running time 3 hrs. 20 min.

Visit The Metropolitan Opera's An American Tragedy website to view background articles on the original novel and the real-life trial on which it was based -- as well as photos from rehearsals, bios of the creative team, plus an interview with Tobias Picker and more.


The American author Theodore Dreiser published An American Tragedy in 1925 and it quickly became a classic. Based on a true story of a man who was found guilty of murdering the woman who was carrying his baby, while he was simultaneously pursuing another woman of a higher social class, Dreiser’s novel tells the story of a mid-western preacher’s son who tasted a little sophistication on his way to death in the electric chair. The book also inspired the film A Place in the Sun with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor. Tobias Picker (whose previous operas include Emmeline, seen in New York in 1998, and Therese Raquin) and his librettist Gene Scheer have distilled the long novel into a fast-moving drama, with lyrical arias and sharply-etched portraits of the Griffiths family – especially of Clyde and the two women he falls for.

Performance Dates/Tickets and Info

All performances for this production have passed, and tickets are no longer available.